Tears in the Rain
by Kasra
Summary: Two and half years after the end of the last war, Heero searches for Quatre. Meanwhile, Quatre searches for himself. Shounen ai (1+4)
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I'm an engineer, not an anime producer. Hence, I don't own 'em. I'm just playing nicely with them for a little bit.

  


Author's note: The story is set two and a half years after the end of Endless Waltz. Don't worry if Heero seems a little OOC - I'll explain as the fic progresses.

  


Warnings: None for this section.

  


Pairings: None so far, unless you count a brief mention of 5+S.

  
  


"Tears in the Rain"

  


by Kasra

  
  


Heero sighed as he placed his coffee on a coaster and sat down in his chair. He surveyed his desk briefly, noted the stack of paperwork, and turned to the occupant of the desk next to him. "So Chang," he began, tilting his head back and closing his eyes. "Are there any new cases today?"

  


Wufei smirked and suppressed a snicker. "Trying to get out of writing your report, Yuy?"

  


Heero flexed his fingers outward. He opened his eyes and absently stared at the picture frame on his desk. "How did you ever guess?"

  


"You were never such a slacker during the war. What ever happened to change you?"

  


Heero's eyes flicked from the picture to Wufei's face, shocked. Wufei's expression was carefully neutral, but the glint in his eyes betrayed his intention. Had Chang Wufei just teased him? He closed his eyes and shook his head, as if to clear the thought. It was too early on Monday morning for him to deal with this.

  


Absently, he picked up his coffee and took a sip. Too bitter. Needs another half teaspoon of sugar, and some creamer to offset the acidity, he analyzed. His eyes drifted back to the picture, to one face in particular. _What ever happened to change you, indeed,_ he reflected.

  


Realizing that Wufei expected an answer, he composed his thoughts. "I don't know, Wufei," he replied, more serious than he had intended. "Somewhere in the course of the wars, I learned to live for myself." He snorted self-depreciatively. "I might even claim to have learned how to be human."

  


This time Wufei did not hold back his amusement. "I'll believe it when I see it, Yuy." The smile in his eyes offset the otherwise cruel sting of his words.

  


Heero shrugged, and turned his attention back to the picture, coffee forgotten. His gaze traveled over each face in the picture, as his mind ordered where each had gone in the two and a half years since the end of the Eve wars.

  


Duo had returned to L2, where his beloved scrap yard awaited him. He and Duo maintained infrequent contact, mostly consisting of dinner get-togethers when the other was in town. Although Duo lived with Hilde, Heero had yet to figure out their relationship, whether it was one more suited to siblings or lovers.

  


Trowa had returned to the circus immediately after the Mariemaia uprising. He and his sister Catherine still worked together in her knife throwing routine. At the end of the wars, Trowa had discovered that his place belonged with his family at the circus. Nevertheless, Heero did not doubt that, if another threat to world peace presented itself, he could count on Trowa's assistance.

  


Wufei he saw every day. Wufei had created a balance between his warring desires to fight and to protect in his role as a Preventer. His burgeoning relationship with Sally Po had helped to calm the fire in his blood. Her influence was most evident in his everyday interactions; his biting sarcasm had melted into a wry wit, and he had even taken to smiling on occasion.

  


Quatre. Heero's eyes again lingered on the blonde's face, as they did every time he looked at the picture. Quatre's expression was cheerful, his smile bright as always.

  


But his eyes... For the first time, Heero noticed that although the Quatre's mouth smiled, his eyes did not.

  


That picture had been taken two days before Quatre disappeared.

  


A trace on his bank accounts had yielded no clues. The possibility of foul play had been ruled out when an investigation of the Winner Enterprises' records found that Quatre had put all of the accounts into order immediately after the wars' end, and signed over complete control to his eldest sister, Maryam. From the time he left his office on the night before his disappearance, not a single sister, servant, Maganac, or business associate had a clue of his whereabouts.

  


Heero knew this personally for a fact, as he had interviewed all of them as part of his first assignment as a Preventer. After six months of following dead-end leads, he had been forced to abandon the case in favor of more typical Preventer fare. Yet, every once in a while, amidst the street wars, uprisings, and attempted assassinations, he found another lead to investigate. He always faithfully pursued all possibilities, even as they inevitably led to a series of dead-ends. Wherever Quatre was hiding, he did not want to be found.

  


Heero paused in his reverie to take another sip of his neglected coffee. It had cooled considerably, causing the bitter taste to linger in his mouth after he swallowed. _This has to be the most disgusting coffee on Earth,_ he thought. _Why do I drink this sludge?_

  


A glance to his left confirmed that Wufei was already hard at work at his desk, paging through screen after screen of mission reports. Heero picked up his notebook from his desk and flipped to his previous mission's notes. It was time to work on his report.

  
*****   


Heero saved his report and glanced at his computer's clock. 12:43... only 17 minutes until the cafeteria closed. Wufei had left his desk about an hour ago, and had not yet returned. Normally he and Wufei ate lunch together in the cafeteria, but Heero supposed that Wufei might have his own reasons for eating without him. Truthfully, he had been so caught up in writing his report that he had failed to note the passage of time.

  


Heero leaned back in his seat and stretched before slowly standing. He pushed his chair into his desk and was heading towards the door when he spotted Wufei. "Hey Chang," he called down the hallway, "Standing me up on our lunch date?"

  


The irate glare emitting from Wufei's eyes gave Heero the satisfaction he had craved earlier that morning. "Yes, Yuy," Wufei began, a smirk twisting his mouth, "Colonel Une insisted."

  


Heero quirked an eyebrow at his friend. "What's this?"

  


"Come with me." Wufei grabbed his elbow and steered him in the direction of the conference rooms. He led Heero into the first empty one and indicated that he take a seat. Wufei placed a stack of papers on the table in front of him and shut the door before taking the seat directly opposite Yuy.

  


"Mission?"

  


"Only if you're interested, Yuy." Wufei turned the papers around so that Heero could inspect the information on them. He took a deep breath, and continued. "There's been an industrial accident on L2."

  


Heero's eyes shot up from the paper to meet Wufei's measured gaze. "How many casualties?"

  


Wufei folded his hands together and pressed his thumbs to his forehead before continuing. "That's just the thing, Yuy. Everybody survived." He pulled his hands apart and purposefully removed the third page from the stack, placing it on top. Heero's eyes widened at the image of destruction. The entire second and third floors of the manufacturing building had collapsed into the main plant. The structural damage had also affected the attached office buildings, and destroyed at least half of the office space.

  


"How..." Heero found himself momentarily at a loss for words. "How could anyone survive this?"

  


Wufei pushed the papers towards Heero. "That," he began, "is what you are going to find out. Assuming you're interested, of course," he added quickly.

  


Heero scrutinized the stack of papers sitting in front of him. "Why all of this interest in an industrial accident? What do the Preventers have to do with this?"

  


Wufei frowned. "Une's not saying, but there's a suspicion that this disaster was no accident."

  


Heero sucked in his breath at the implication. "Wufei," he almost whispered, "you know that I don't kill anymore."

  


Wufei nodded and answered him softly. "That's why I'm offering you this mission, rather than ordering you."

  


Heero studied the picture again as he made his decision. "Mission accepted," he breathed.

  


Wufei caught his gaze a moment before gesturing at the papers. "I will forward you the mission details once I get back to my desk. Be prepared to be on a shuttle to L2 within the next two hours. Colonel Une will wish to speak with you before you leave." He rose from his chair and headed towards the door.

  


"Is that everything?" Heero asked as Wufei opened the door.

  


"No," Wufei's lips quirked. "Good luck." He walked out of the hallway and headed back in the direction of Une's office.

  


Heero idly flipped through the stack of papers as he left the room. There were multiple newsfeed printouts detailing the accident, some additional photos, a company profile, and the contact information of every company worker. He suspected that the stack of paper would triple in size before he left for L2.

  


He headed back to his desk to shutdown his computer before leaving. His previous mission's report would have to wait for another day.

  
  


tbc...


	2. Chapter 2

Usual Disclaimer: I'm an engineer, not an anime producer. Hence, I don't own 'em. I'm just playing nicely with them for a little bit.

  


Author's note: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far! I really appreciate your feedback.

  


Warnings: There's some OCs (Original Characters) introduced in this chapter that have alot of "screen time." This is necessary for the plot, and they won't turn up nearly as much in future chapters. If I could have used Gundam Wing characters for the parts instead, believe me, I would have. Other than that, no warnings.

  


Pairings: none in this section, future 1+4/1x4 (undecided)

  
  
  


**Chapter 2**

  


Heero Yuy was already exhausted, and the day was barely half over yet.

  


Less than three hours had passed since he had received his mission from Chang. Une had decided that the mission was top priority and immediately had him placed on one of the Preventer private shuttles. He had had to run to the spaceport in order to make it on time, and once on the shuttle, he had spent his trip studying the latest newsfeeds of the accident. When he stepped off of the shuttle, a taxi was waiting to take him straight to the site.

  


It dropped him off about a block from the site, which was as close as it could get with all of the roadblocks surrounding the place. Heero exited the cab and walked in the direction of the accident.

  


Seemingly the instant that Heero stepped into view, all eyes turned to him.

  


Within a cluster of suits, a middle-aged Asian male in glasses separated from the crowd to greet him.

  


"Preventer Yuy, I presume."

  


Heero nodded silently in acknowledgement.

  


"Mister Yuy," the man began. "My name is Bruce Maeda. I am the president of Isomer Industrial."

  


Maeda extended his hand in greeting, which Heero grasped in a firm handshake.

  


Heero intently studied the man in front of him. His fine charcoal suit jacket and pants were coated with dust; his starched collar was gray along the edges; his glasses were sprinkled with enough dust to scatter to the sunlight that show through them when they slid down the bridge of his nose.

  


A slight twitch in the man's handshake betrayed Maeda's hidden exhaustion. Heero released the other man's hand but held his gaze.

  


Maeda continued, "I wish I could say it is a pleasure to meet you, but under the circumstances, I think you can understand my reluctance." He gestured toward the smoldering remains of the building behind him, company smile fixed firmly in place.

  


"Indeed," Heero responded absently. His attention was drawn off to the far right side of the building, where a temporary first aid station had been set up. Workers shuffled in and out of the trailer, some of them taking supplies to a small hastily constructed tent shelter next to the trailer where makeshift cots had been set up for the non-critical patients waiting for a doctor's clearance to go back to work.

  


His eyes trailed one of the workers, a tall attractive Asian male in his late thirties, arm freshly bandaged, as he walked out of the trailer and back towards the ruined building.

  


Heero had not been the only person to notice. "Excuse me," Bruce demurred, turning in the direction of the building. "Glenn! What do you think you're doing?"

  


The man paused in an undamaged doorway of the building he was about to enter and turned around. Heero surmised from the surprised expression on the man's face that he had not been expecting anyone to stop and question him. "Bruce?" his voice called out as his eyes settled on the president. He hesitated a moment, glancing between the building door and his boss, debating. Coming to a decision, he addressed Maeda. "I'll be right there." He stepped out of the doorway and walked over to where Heero and the president were standing.

  


Maeda cleared his throat and started introductions. "Glenn, this is Heero Yuy. He's the Preventer agent assigned to this investigation." Heero's cool eyes met Glenn's sharp analytical gaze. "Mister Yuy, this is my Manufacturing Production Manager, Glenn Okazaki." Another firm handshake, another piercing gaze. "All right Glenn," Maeda began again, "What were you doing back there?"

  


"I was going to go look for Jason. He's missing," Okazaki replied firmly.

  


"You're sure of it?" Maeda seemed surprised. His left hand slowly clenched and unclenched into a fist.

  


"I've gone all over the site looking for him, and he wasn't in the trailer a couple of minutes ago," Glenn said, motioning to the right with his head to indicate the first aid station.

  


Ignored by the exchange, Heero held his tongue regardless, intrigued by the proceedings. He observed how the interplay of worry lines seemingly transferred from the manager's brow to the president's own as the men discoursed.

  


"Have you tried calling his home? Paging him?" Maeda pressed.

  


"No response." The flat line of Okazaki's mouth suggested to Heero that this was more typical than perhaps Maeda realized.

  


A flicker of annoyance stole across Maeda's face before he schooled his expression. "Well," Bruce drew a deep breath. "There's plenty of other things that need to be done right now, and we need every man we can get on the job. Keep an eye out for Jason, will you? I'll want him to speaker with Mister Yuy as soon as possible." Glenn nodded.

  


Heero placed a restraining hand on Okazaki's shoulder as he turned to leave. "If you have the time later, I'd like to speak to you," he requested softly.

  


That analytical gaze again. "Certainly, Mister Yuy. Nice meeting you."

  


Heero turned back to the president as Glenn made his way back to the building remains. Maeda adjusted his glasses on his nose. "My apologies, Mister Yuy. I did not intend to get off-track so quickly."

  


A few years ago, Heero would have been irritated by the man's manner, he somberly reflected. Instead, a different Heero Yuy nodded in understanding. "Please continue."

  


"Well, I'm certain you have a lot of questions about what happened. I'll be happy to answer as many of them as I possibly can. You'll probably also want to talk to some of employees who were inside of the building when it collapsed." He turned in the direction of the tent shelter. "Most of the employees have been treated on-site, but a few were serious enough to require hospitalization. The hospital is three blocks east of here." He seemed lost in thought for a moment, and then turned to Heero. "Please, I ask that you hold off on questioning them as long as possible. They've been through a lot of trauma in the past twelve hours."

  


Heero didn't need to ask to know that "they" meant the hospitalized patients. Unfortunately, "they" were also the ones most likely to have the information he needed most about the accident.

  


Bruce continued, "You might want to take a look around the building. I've got the footage that the Vidbots took right after the accident, which I'm sure you'll want to look over." Heero nodded silently.

  


Bruce took a deep breath before continuing. "I know you're probably not going to like this, but right now I've got engineers inside trying to reinforce the building to prevent it from collapsing." Heero's eyes narrowed. Maeda's eyes took on a defiant glint as he continued. "I know how you feel about it, Mister Yuy, but I have a responsibility to my workers' lives that precludes waiting for the investigation to finish. Given the choice, I would rather do it your way, but my employees' health is far more important."

  


"You misunderstand me, sir. Your workers' health is of the utmost concern. I am distressed that the building's structural integrity may have been compromised." Heero allowed the smallest of smiles with his statement, to ease Maeda.

  


It worked. Bruce returned a tired smile. "My apologies again. It has been a long day, but that does not excuse me from my poor assumption."

  


Heero shook his head dismissively. "Please, let's leave it behind. Was there anything else you wanted to tell me?"

  


Maeda spent the next half hour recounting the events that transpired earlier in the day as he had seen them. He then led Heero around the site and introduced him to a flurry of people that he expected Heero to be working with for the duration of the investigation.

  


As the last person introduced to Heero hurried back to his task, Bruce turned to Heero and asked, "Any questions?"

  


"Yes, in fact," he answered, pinning his gaze on Maeda's gentle countenance. He paused for effect. "How did anybody survive this destruction?" He swept his hand out in an expansive gesture to encompass the remains of the half-collapsed building. "More so," he pressed, not giving Maeda the opportunity to answer first, "how did _everybody_ survive?"

  


Bruce averted his eyes, nervously wringing his hands together. "A miracle," he mumbled.

  


"_What?_"

  


The president continued, seemingly oblivious of Yuy's response. "A miracle..." he trailed, "A very stubborn miracle named Jason Yoest."

  
*****   


Heero worked tirelessly through the remainder of the day, speaking with every Isomer Industrial employee he could find on-site concerning the accident. Just as he had expected, none of the available employees had been in the affected areas of the building when the accident happened. He was informed by one of the nurses at the first aid station that most of the workers in those areas had been immediately sent to the hospital as a precautionary measure.

  


He briefly debated the merits of stopping by the hospital, and decided against it. The additional rest would be far more beneficial to the patients than would any answers they could give him about the accident.

  


Heero found himself wandering in the direction of the building. Perhaps he would be able to get some useful information out of the engineers, he mused.

  


Glenn was hard at work overseeing a group of engineers when Heero stepped inside. He finished the task at hand and called a break for everyone. While wiping his brow with napkin, he poured himself a glass of lemonade from a cooler that had been set up in the room by one of the more thoughtful employees. "Care for some?" he offered.

  


"No thanks," Yuy declined.

  


Glenn leaned against the wall behind him and took a long swig of the tart drink, relaxing. He refilled his glass and turned to Heero. "So, have you found anything yet?" he asked conversationally.

  


Heero sighed in frustration, shaking his head. "Not really," he began. "It seems that everyone who witnessed the accident is still in the hospital."

  


The light in Glenn's eyes flicked far away for a moment, and Heero could almost see the gears turning in the man's mind. He mouthed what could only be a list of names, counting off on his fingers.

  


Abruptly, Glenn snapped his fingers and straightened his posture, the flame returning to his eyes. "Maureen!" he yelled, "are you still here?"

  


"On my way out!" called a voice two rooms over. "What do you need?"

  


"Preventer Yuy here has yet to interview anyone who witnessed the accident from the floor. Are you available?"

  


"I'm afraid not," the voice called back. It sounded regretful. "I have to go pick up Maria from daycare. Can it wait until tomorrow?"

  


Glenn turned to Heero for confirmation. He shrugged his shoulders, indicating his own lack of control in the situation. "Yes, Maureen," he answered, "it can wait."

  


He seemed to be silently contemplating something again. After a moment, he yelled, "Maureen - I know you're busy, but is there any chance that you could stop over here on your way out and meet Preventer Yuy? It'll just take a second." He turned and winked at Heero.

  


Heero was taken slightly aback by the gesture, not certain of what to think of Okazaki's machinations. He did not have long to mull over it as a flush-faced woman in her early-thirties burst into the room. "All right Glenn," she panted, "you have exactly three minutes, and I'm counting."

  


Glenn chuckled and motioned towards Heero. "Maureen, this is Heero Yuy, the Preventer agent assigned to investigate today's accident. Heero, this is Maureen Robinson, Senior Automation Engineer."

  


Maureen strode forward and eagerly grabbed Heero's hand, pumping it in an enthusiastic handshake. "Pleased to meet you! Sorry I have to run - we'll talk tomorrow," she promised, releasing his hand from her strong grip. "And a good day to you too, Glenn," she tossed over her shoulder as she left the room.

  


"Hey! I still have two minutes!" Glenn yelled back. Receiving no answer, he sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, that was Maureen. I was hoping she'd have time to talk to you, but I forgot that she has to pick up her daughter from daycare."

  


Heero shrugged noncommittally. He was still a little winded from his whirlwind introduction to the automation engineer. He decided that now might be a good time for that glass of lemonade that Glenn had offered earlier.

  


As he sipped the cool drink, his remembered the question he had wanted to ask Okazaki. "So," he asked lightly, "did you ever find Jason?"

  


Glenn's eyebrows constricted together in scowl. "No," he responded, "In fact, I got so caught up in the work that needed to be done in here that I never had the chance to look. Why?"

  


Heero absently fingered the zipper on his Preventers jacket. "I was hoping to get the opportunity to talk to him." He noted that the production manager's scowl had not changed. "What?"

  


Glenn shook his head and waved his hands in the air in front of him to break the image. "Nothing, never mind. Jason's strange, that's all. Although speaking of the devil, someone should really go check up on him. I'll bet he he's still around here somewhere."

  


Heero opened his mouth as if to ask a question, then closed it when he noticed that Glenn was no longer in the room. _He's probably looking for Jason,_ Heero realized. He had wanted to ask Glenn about what Maeda had said about Jason. _Well, perhaps if we find him I can ask him myself._

  


Heero walked outside to look for Glenn. The artificial sun was setting, casting elongated distorted shadows over the rubble. Heero carefully picked his way around the building to its rear. It was only when he got there that he realized that he had no idea of what Jason Yoest looked like. He could have smacked himself for forgetting to ask Glenn when he had the chance.

  


A glance to his left revealed a figure cloaked in the late day shadows, staring off into the distance. "Glenn!" he called out, hoping to draw the man's attention to him. He started walking in the direction of him.

  


The figure turned at the voice, and Heero quickly realized his mistake. The man was far too short to be Glenn, who was easily over six feet tall.

  


As the details of the other's features came into sharper contrast, Heero picked up his pace. He was beginning to make out more details...

  


Blue eyes...

  


Delicate hands...

  


Blond hair....

  


_It couldn't be!_

  


"Jason!" he half-heard in the background. Heero sprinted ahead, intent on his target. "Heero! That's Jason!" At the sound of Heero's name, the other's eyes went wide with shock. He turned and started to run away.

  


Heero sped up and closed the distance quickly. He reached out and grabbed the man on his bare forearm, pulling him close. A shock of electricity seemed to jolt through the contact point, and the man gave a strangled cry before passing out.

  


Heero threw his arms around the slim body as it collapsed bonelessly against him. He carefully lowered himself to the ground, holding the man tightly against his chest, while he waited for Okazaki to catch up.

  


Gently, he ran his fingers through fine golden strands of hair. "Quatre," he whispered aloud dazedly, hugging the body tight against himself, "What the hell are you doing here?"

  
  


tbc...


	3. Chapter 3

Usual Disclaimer: I'm an engineer, not an anime producer. Hence, I don't own 'em. I'm just playing nicely with them for a little bit.

  


Warnings: None for this section

  


Pairings: none in this section, future 1+4/1x4 (undecided)

  


Archive: Gundam Pilot Academy (assuming Jessie wants it); Heero and Quatre in Love; fanfiction.net. Anyone else that actually wants this just email me and I'll gladly send you an HTMLized version ^_^

  


Additional notes at the end of the chapter.

  
  


**Chapter 3**

  
  


Heero tightened his hold on the body in his arms as Okazaki approached. Glenn's eyes narrowed critically as they scanned over Jason's body, checking for injuries. "It looks like he's in shock. I'm going to radio in for a med team," Okazaki began, gruffly. More softly, "Can you take care of him for a few minutes? I'll need to lead them around back to here. It's not exactly safe to be walking around here in the dark," he noted, almost to himself, as he stared up at the rapidly darkening sky.

  


Heero nodded quickly and returned his attention to the person in his arms. Remembering his first aid training, he lowered Jason to the ground and laid him flat. He then removed his Preventers jacket and placed it over Jason's upper body, tucking the bare arms under the coat to keep them warm.

  


Distractedly he heard Glenn's calm voice speak to the dispatcher over the radio, telling her he would meet the team in front of the building and lead them around.

  


Heero stared at the blonde lying on the ground in front of him. The implications of Quatre's presence began to sink into Heero's mind, invading his thoughts. What was he doing here? Why did he leave? Did he even retain any memories of his past?

  


And how, in a company employing hundreds of people, could he go completely unrecognized?

  


The more he thought about the young man in front of him, the more confused Heero became. While Heero could easily resolve the physical resemblance, the possibility that Quatre would be here intentionally confounded him.

  


Lost in his reverie, he missed the approaching steps of Glenn and the med team. With some hesitance he backed away from Jason and allowed the team to do their work. They worked quickly, and had Jason loaded onto a stretcher and headed to the hospital within minutes.

  


Heero watched the med team disappear around the ruined building, torn between the desire to follow them and the realization of the futility of the gesture. A strong hand gripping his shoulder startled him, and he instinctively spun around to meet Okazaki's darkened countenance. Glenn's expression shifted to one of concern, and unspoken curiosity, when he saw the torment in Heero's eyes. "Come on," he said softly, "let's get out of here and into somewhere with light. It's getting dark."

  


Heero allowed the hand on his shoulder to guide him back around the building toward one of the lit temporary shelters positioned near the first aid trailer. Inside, chairs surrounded circular tables, holding boxes of donuts and cookies. Urns of coffee lined the wall, both regular and decaf, and a table laden with tea and hot chocolate packets was positioned next to a hot water dispenser.

  


"This is our temporary break room," Glenn commented. Heero noted that the room was empty of other people. Not surprising, considering the hour. Glenn gestured toward two chairs at a table in the corner. "Take a seat. I'll get you something to drink. What would you like?"

  


"Coffee. Two sugars, one cream," Heero responded automatically. _It can't be worse than the sludge they have at the office,_ he mused.

  


Okazaki returned a moment later with the coffee in one hand and cup of steeping tea in the other. One taste of the coffee and Heero understood why. "Ugh!" He almost spat the coffee back out.

  


Glenn grinned wickedly and pushed his cup of tea toward Heero. "I had a feeling you'd think that. Here, try this. Unless you'd prefer hot chocolate," he offered, rising from his seat. Heero shook his head as Glenn headed back to make another cup of tea.

  


"Why can't I get a decent cup of coffee anywhere?" Heero mused aloud.

  


Across the room, Okazaki answered. "Well, in this case, it's because this is plant coffee." At Heero's confused look, Okazaki continued. "They make this stuff taste like crap so that the guys working the 12 hour shifts can stay awake. At least, that's been the theory at every plant I've worked at."

  


Okazaki circled around the tables and returned to the seat opposite Yuy. "So this isn't your first job?" Heero opened, conversationally.

  


"No. I've worked at a variety of different manufacturing plants. I started out working in chemical plants, before the wars. But that became dangerous while the first war was going on. Not to mention the fact that most of them shut down production, for fear of being attacked."

  


Heero swallowed a slight pang of guilt. He had, in some sense, been partially responsible for those shutdowns. Okazaki took a sip of his tea and continued, "I lost my job at a cryogenic air distillation plant during the war. The interruption in manufacturing world-wide had affected our sales of N2, and it was deemed no longer profitable to keep the plant open." Glenn shrugged dismissively. "Since most manufacturing experience transfers well into other fields, I ended up taking a job supervising a Leo assembly line in an OZ mobile suit factory. No question of job security there. In fact," he paused for emphasis, "it was probably that experience that got me this job."

  


Heero tilted his head slightly, puzzled. "How so?"

  


"Well, as you're undoubtedly aware, Isomer Industrial has a wide range of contract manufacturing projects going on at any one point in time. Shortly after the second war, they started working on a new project. A major mining company was looking for a way to automate dangerous mining jobs. So they approached us with a proposal, and one of the engineers came up with the idea of re-using old mobile suit parts to build intelligent mining devices. Sort of an industrial version of the mobile doll, if you will."

  


_A major mining company... Winner Enterprises..._ Heero nodded to indicate that Okazaki should continue.

  


"Obviously, it took some work to clear this with the government. There was a good deal of opposition initially - understandable, of course, given the recent wars. Only when they proposed branching out the design to handle other dangerous jobs did the idea finally gain public acceptance. Isomer designed a secondary line of automation machines to take over some of the more dangerous chemical manufacturing processes.

  


"I ran across a job posting looking for a production manager with experience in mobile suit manufacturing. I wasn't very happy with my current job of the time, so I applied, and, well, here I am," he finished with a shrug.

  


"So you've been here since they started manufacturing?" Heero asked cautiously.

  


Okazaki waved his right hand dismissively. "No, no. I've only been here for about a year now. I came onboard right about the time they started scaling up manufacturing at the pilot plant on-site." He looked to both sides, and lowered his voice to just above a whisper. "It's not public news yet, but they've almost finished building the full-scale manufacturing plant on the other end of town. But," he emphasized, a little louder, "manufacturing's been put on total hold, until this investigation is over." He looked pointedly at Yuy.

  


Heero understood the implicit message. _I'll help you do your job, so that I can go back to doing mine._ He nodded thoughtfully and regarded Glenn as he asked his next question. "Coming back to the reason I'm here," he began, his expression carefully neutral, "what can you tell me about the accident that happened this morning?"

  


Glenn stared at the paper cup in his hand for a moment before abruptly bringing it to his lips and chugging the remaining contents. "Another cup?" he offered. "This might take a while."

  


Heero looked into his cup and was surprised to find it empty. He had been absently nursing it while listening to Okazaki. "Certainly." He did not doubt that Okazaki was using the distraction to organize his thoughts - Glenn struck Heero as a very methodical man. Had he been more paranoid, he might have suspected Okazaki of stalling.

  


But given the stressful events of the past 24 hours, Heero was certain it was simply a matter of frazzled nerves. Caffeine would exacerbate the problem in the long run, but for the time being, it helped focus the mind on the immediate task.

  


Glenn sat the steaming cup in front of Yuy and took his seat once again across from him. He flipped open the box in the middle of the table and snagged a chocolate chip cookie. "You might want one," he offered, holding a second one out toward the Preventer, "since it'll probably be a while before you get dinner."

  


"Wait," he demurred, realization of the late hour sinking in. "I completely forgot about the time. We don't have to do this today - it can wait until tomorrow. You probably need to get home."

  


Glenn laughed self-depreciatively and shook his head. "No, don't worry, I don't have anywhere I need to be." He smiled at Heero, further confusing him. Noting Yuy's puzzled look, the production manager tried another angle. "The only thing I'm married to," he laughed again, "is my job."

  


Heero nodded quickly in understanding. "My apologies for my rudeness," he replied formally.

  


"None necessary. That you were considerate enough to even notice the hour excuses you already." He waved his left hand, dismissing the subject out of hand.

  


Yuy pulled a data recorder out of the inner pocket of the Preventers jacket he had recovered earlier. The atmosphere at the table abruptly shifted from that of casual joviality to one of subdued seriousness.

  


"As part of the investigation, I will need to record what you tell me, so that I can submit it as evidence if necessary. Is that understood?"

  


Not a trace of amusement remained on Okazaki's face. "Yes."

  


Heero pushed the record button on the device before placing it flat on the table. "Mister Okazaki, please relate to me the events of this date - August 26th After Colony 199 - as they started at approximately 700 local time."

  


Okazaki took a deep breath and composed himself before launching into his narrative.

  


"I arrived at work today at 5:30 AM. I received the D shift passdown from David Vandermer and headed over to the production area for shift change at 6:00 AM. Today - August 26th, that is," he repeated, for the benefit of the recorder, "was a typical day for manufacturing. We had just finished fabrication of three more of the mining machines and were preparing to test them later in the day, and our first chemical handling machine was looking to be assembled by the end of today's shift. At around 6:45 AM, Senior Automation Engineer Maureen Robinson arrived in the fabrication area to set up for her experiment -"

  


"Can you tell me more about Engineer Robinson's experiment?" Yuy interrupted.

  


"Yes. She was doing the final test on the Revision 3 controller software for the ore drilling automation unit. Had it passed, the new boards would have been rolled into production by late next week." Okazaki paused, a rueful expression flitting across his face.

  


"Go on."

  


"Well, she and five of the operators - Cecil Brown, Kimberly Fong, Robert Doellinger, Steven Vigil, and John Scalia - were set up in Testing Area 3 on the first floor of the plant. I spoke with her briefly at 7:25 AM to see if she had the resources she needed for her experiment. She assured she did, and I left at 7:30 AM, when she began her experiment.

  


"I was making my rounds of the production floor down the hallway when I heard what sounded like an explosion and smelled smoke, coming from the direction of Test Area 3. I immediately radioed on the emergency line and began directing the evacuation of the personnel in the area nearest to me. When I was certain that everyone nearby had gotten out safely, I followed them to meeting zone."

  


"At what time do you estimate you heard the explosion?"

  


"7:57 AM." He detached the radio from his belt, handing it to Yuy for inspection. "The radio has a clock on it, which was the first thing I looked at."

  


Heero nodded and handed the radio back to Okazaki, who reattached it to his belt. He continued, "From outside I could see that a fire had started in the rumble of Test Area 3. I started taking mental inventory of who had made it out so far. I started checking around on the radio for Maureen's team. When no one reported in, I headed back toward the plant to see about retrieving them myself."

  


"That would have been crazy, if not suicidal."

  


The thinnest of smiles graced Okazaki's face. "I know."

  


Heero stared at him, puzzlement evident in his eyes. "What stopped you then?"

  


"Maureen, actually. I was so surprised to see her outside of the building and _safe_ that I ran over to check on her. She was taking care of Brown, Fong, Vigil, and Doellinger. I was about to ask her how they'd made it out of the building when I saw Jason standing in the busted doorframe, holding Scalia in his arms.

  


"I ran to meet him halfway and took John from him. He thanked me, and informed me that everyone was evacuated. Then he disappeared, ostensibly to visit the nurse.

  


"By then MERT had arrived and was loading up the five operators Jason retrieved to take to the hospital." Okazaki paused, a thoughtful frown creasing his mouth. "I wanted Jason to go as well, to get checked over for chemical exposure, but by the time I thought to look for him, he'd disappeared. I didn't see him again until just before when you found him. Though not for lack of trying on my part."

  


Heero digested that tidbit of information with some trepidation. What did this mean? This was not the Quatre he knew. Winner was never one for running away, or disappearing at a time of crisis.

  


He continued his questions. "How long was it before the fire was contained?"

  


"Most of it was out by 8:18 AM. There are currently a few hot spots buried in the rubble, which are expected to put themselves out sometime tonight."

  


"And what do you theorize caused the explosion?"

  


Glenn folded his hands on the table in front of him. "There weren't many things in that area capable of causing an explosion. There was a storage tank of toluene near there, although that's always under an N2 blanket to prevent these sorts of problems. Unless," he paused, a thoughtful wrinkle to his brow, "unless the nitrogen was shut off..."

  


"Would there be any way to verify?" Heero pressed.

  


"It depends on where it was shut off. There's a computer that monitors the sensor output. If an abnormality in nitrogen delivery occurred, an alarm would be sounded and Facilities would have looked into it immediately."

  


"Is there a way to bypass or avoid an alarm?"

  


"Yes. Some people have passcodes that allow them to disable the alarms while working on the system. In fact, come to think of it, I imagine the logs would tell you if the sensor was disabled."

  


"Can it tell me who did it as well?"

  


"Well, I'm not very familiar with the system, so I don't know. Frankly, I'm not even 100% certain it'll tell me that the sensor was disabled. But I seem to remember that there was only one generic user account and password, which means that any number of persons could be responsible. Maureen could tell you." Okazaki frowned. "This is all interesting, but it still doesn't explain the explosion."

  


"All right," Heero said, leaning back in his seat. He steepled his fingertips together, and looked Okazaki directly in the eye. "Any thoughts on that?"

  


Glenn was unfazed. "Well, assuming the nitrogen was off, it is possible that the toluene vapors drifted near a spark, which in turn flashed back to the source. Possible, but unlikely. If I had to lay my bets, I'd be looking for a bomb. Or at least for traces of chemicals that aren't supposed to be there, like oxidizers."

  


Heero nodded slowly. His own suspicions followed the same path as Glenn's, minus the detail about the toluene. He glanced at his watch. "It's getting late." He held up a hand to forestall Glenn's inevitable counter argument. "There's nothing more that we can accomplish here at this hour that can't be done tomorrow." Okazaki nodded in agreement. "Are there any last comments you'd like to add before wrapping this up for the night?"

  


"No, I don't think so, Mister Yuy. I'll let you know if I think of anything."

  


Heero pressed the stop button on the recorder. Both men rose from their chairs, as if on cue. "Thank you very much for your time, Glenn." Okazaki smiled at Heero's informality. He held his hand out and the Preventer clasped it in a handshake. This one was just as firm as the first handshake, but felt like an affirmation of strength rather than a measurement of will.

  


"Not a problem. Let me know if you need anything else. Wait, do you know where the hospital is?"

  


"Yes, Mr. Maeda told me earlier today."

  


"All right. I imagine you'll want to talk to some of the patients there." Glenn picked up the empty cups from the table and deposited them to a nearby trash receptacle. "Well, I'm going to head home now so that I can be in for my shift bright and early tomorrow morning. Have a good night." Okazaki threw a half-wave, half salute in Yuy's direction as he exited the shelter.

  


Heero left the shelter and walked back in the direction of where the taxi had let him off earlier that day. He called in for a cab on his mobile phone, and was not surprised to find one waiting for him when got to the drop off point. The driver took him directly to his hotel, which was surprising only about seven blocks east of the accident site. Had Heero known, he would have opted to walk.

  


His luggage had been dropped off earlier in the day, and the keys to a rental car awaited him at the desk when he checked in. Heero took his luggage up to his room himself, despite the protests of the bellhop. Normally he would not have begrudged the service, but when he was on a Preventer mission he tried to minimize the number of people handling his baggage. He had been unsettled enough about having the taxi drop his luggage off at the hotel as it was. Unnecessary paranoia, perhaps, but it had never served him wrong, he mused. In the relatively new climate of peace, there still existed some who would do their damnedest to interrupt it for their own personal gain.

  


Shaking his head at his own thoughts, Heero unlocked the door to his room with the keycard and tossed his bags onto the bed. He moved with a seeming carelessness that belied the quick scan of the room his eyes performed. Satisfied of his safety, he used the vidphone in the room to order Chinese delivery.

  


He had already visually inspected his luggage for tampering when he received them from the front desk, but he was still decidedly cautious when he opened up his suitcase to retrieve his laptop. Once removed, he booted it up. He had a call to make, and he did not trust the security of the hotel vidphone to make it. It was fine for ordering dinner, but not sufficient for anything remotely secure.

  


He had logged in and enabled the encryption algorithms by the time his dinner arrived. Setting the food aside for a moment, he made a quick call to the hospital to check up on Jason. The polite young woman on the other end told him that he had woken up but had been retained for observation. He informed her that he would be visiting tomorrow morning to speak with the victims of today's accident. She promised to make certain their testing schedules made them available for the duration of the morning.

  


He thanked her, and cut the connection. Glancing at the digital clock readout in the room, he decided to make his next call before eating.

  


He started up his random key generator program, and, satisfied that his connection would be secure, connected smoothly through the network. A cheery, familiar face answered the phone. "Maxwell and Schbeiker Salvage. How can - Heero! Hey, good to see you!"

  


"Duo." Despite himself, Heero felt the edges of his mouth tug into the slightest of smiles.

  


"So how are you doing? What's going on?"

  


"I'm on L2 again. Thought we might do dinner again, maybe tomorrow night."

  


Duo's expression shifted from cheerful to thoughtful. The smile remained, but his eyes ceased to twinkle, their shine replaced by a thoughtful glint. "Mission?" Heero nodded. "Let me guess... no wait," he paused, "you probably don't want me to guess, not over an insecure line. I think I have a pretty good idea already. How's about we discuss it over dinner tomorrow night?"

  


"Any suggestions as to where?"

  


Duo read Heero's implicit affirmative in the responding question. "I know a great sushi place nearby that's open late. How about if you give me a call tomorrow when you're done, and we can figure it out from there?"

  


"All right." Heero was silent for a moment as he carefully chose his next words. "Duo - I need your assistance with something."

  


Maxwell squinted at the Preventer, the beginnings of a frown marring his lips. "What sort of assistance?" he asked slowly.

  


Heero was quick to answer. "Just information. There are a few names I'd like some local information on. The sort of things you won't find in public databases. Can you do it?"

  


A crafty smile worked across Duo's lips. "Of course I can. So long as you give Une the heads-up before I submit a timecard. She almost had a heart attack last time." Heero looked startled, so Duo quickly added, "Don't worry. She was just surprised. She'd forgotten about my contract. I just needed to remind her."

  


Heero let out the breath he had not realized he had been holding in. Duo was joking with him, as usual. He shook his head before continuing. "I will email you the names, then. Don't be surprised if you don't find much."

  


Duo regarded him suspiciously. "What's going on, Heero?"

  


"What do you mean?"

  


"You never ask for information this early in a case. What did you find?" Undeterred by Yuy's blank expression, Duo pressed further. "You're hiding something, aren't you? Something big."

  


Heero's eyes narrowed. "Insecure line," he mouthed. Duo's eyes grew wide, though his curiosity did not abate.

  


"All that I have right now are suspicions. Tomorrow night I'll tell you what I can. I hope to have some answers by then," he said by way of appeasement.

  


That seemed to satisfy Maxwell for the time being. "I'll expect your email within the next hour, then." The smile returned to Duo's face. "See you tomorrow!"

  


"Goodnight." Heero cut the connection. He enabled a secure connection to the Preventers system and checked his email. The only new mail was a message from Wufei reminding Heero to inform him if he needed any additional resources. Heero debated whether Duo would be considered an "additional resource," and decided to be on the safe side by telling HQ early. He fired off a quick email to Chang and Une to inform them of Maxwell's involvement. Immediately afterwards, he sent Duo the promised list of names to research.

  


Finally finished, he logged off and shut down his laptop. His tired gaze fell upon his neglected Chinese food, and with some trepidation he opened the delivery bag. The food was thankfully still warm, and he ate it quickly. A hot shower later, and he was ready for bed. Sleep claimed him only minutes after his head hit the pillow.

  


*****

  


Heero awoke early the next morning, unable to sleep later than 6:00 AM due to the three-hour time difference. He quickly showered and dressed, and grabbed a cup of coffee and a piece of fruit on the way to the hospital.

  


His hotel was not far from the hospital, so he opted to walk there rather than drive the rental car or take public transit. His intention today, he decided, would be to attempt to interview as many of the immediate eyewitnesses as possible. He expected most of them to still be in the hospital for observation. Not only did they run the risk of smoke inhalation, but they also needed to be checked out for chemical exposure. Even if Glenn's suspicions about a sabotaged N2 line were incorrect, any number of flammable chemicals were in the vicinity of the accident, so a battery of tests - followed by months of observation - would be necessary to determine the overall effects of smoke inhalation at the site.

  


A quick flash of his badge earned him a guard who led him back to the wing where the accident victims were being held. Heero trailed two steps behind the guard, his thoughts focused on the workers he hoped to speak with today. If he was lucky, the workers would be coherent, and he could get statements from each of them about the accident.

  


The guard took him through a set of double doors and stood in front of a small wing of rooms. "The patients are in this area, sir," the young guard informed him. He could not have been more than a year younger than him, Heero realized. He nodded at the guard dismissively, before reading over the names posted beside each of the doorways.

  


His eyes lingered over the last one, and before he could change his mind, he decidedly entered the room. The door was open, and from what he could see, the room was empty and the patient, asleep.

  


Jason Yoest. Heero reminded himself as he entered the room that he was here to check up on Jason Yoest. Not Quatre Raberba Winner. Quatre Raberba Winner disappeared over two years ago. He was not laying here in a hospital bed with an oxygen mask over his face, his brow furrowed as if caught up in a nightmare. No, Jason Yoest was here, the stubborn hero of Isomer Industrial. Certainly not the missing CEO of Winner Enterprises.

  


Heero sat down in the chair next to the bed and leaned over the sleeping body in front of him. _And yet, the closer I get to Jason,_ he thought, _the harder I find it to convince myself it is isn't Quatre._ Tentatively, he reached out with his right hand and placed it on the restless blonde's forehead, gently stroking the mussed bangs. Though Jason did not awaken, his struggling ceased and he seemed to drop into a deeper sleep.

  


He smiled slightly, his hand remaining on Jason's forehead, as he allowed himself a moment to observe the enigmatic young man. He found it difficult to fight the familiarity that assaulted him every time he was around Jason. Not only did he look like Quatre, but he _felt_ like Quatre, in some way that Heero could not define.

  


Much as he needed to speak with Jason, Heero was glad that he had not awoken yet. Obviously the man needed his rest, after his exhausting heroics the previous day.

  


Heero frowned. What had he been thinking, running away like that?

  


"Mister Yuy?" A soft voice startled him out of his private reverie. He snatched his hand away guiltily and spun in his seat to identify the intruder, mentally he kicking himself. Three years ago he never would have allowed someone to sneak up on him like that.

  


"Ms. Robinson," he responded, realizing belatedly that he had no idea of the woman's marital status.

  


She flashed him a brilliant smile, in an attempt to put him at ease. "Please, it's Maureen." She cocked her head to the right. "I didn't expect to find you here." Getting no response from the Preventer, she continued. "What's his status?"

  


Heero grabbed the chart beside the bed and flipped through it. "Severe exhaustion. Difficulty breathing due to smoke inhalation. Possible chemical exposure." He replaced the chart, frowning. "It's a miracle he wasn't hurt more than that," he muttered, almost to himself.

  


"I know," she sighed softly. Somewhere in the course of their conversation, she had drifted over to the opposite side of the bed. She placed her left hand where Heero's had been only minutes before, a soft smile reflected in her eyes. "He saved my life, you know," she whispered.

  


Heero nodded silently. "He pushed me out of the way when the mobile suit collapsed," she continued more audibly. "It happened so fast that I never saw it coming. Then he shoved me toward the exit, and I looked back and saw him trying to pick up Kimberly.

  


"If he hadn't moved me, I would have been crushed." She shook her head in amazement. "I never knew he was so strong. You'd never guess it, looking at him. But - I don't know, maybe it was adrenaline? I've heard of things like that. He - he was just totally focused."

  


Heero listened raptly to the engineer's words, fearful of speaking lest he break the spell.

  


She tore her gaze away from Jason's sleeping body to meet Heero's eyes. "I don't even know what he was doing there. He's been kind of edgy these past few days. Told me that something didn't feel right. Although, come to think of it, Glenn's been the same way," she said, almost carelessly.

  


Heero's mind worked rapidly, digesting the information. Maureen had just casually suggested the unthinkable - that both Jason and Glenn knew about the accident before it happened.

  


He shook his head, dismissing the idea immediately. Okazaki had made it clear during his interview that he had been just as shocked as everyone else by the accident. And given Yoest's deeds the previous day, accusing him of anything seemed absurd. Still, he allowed a flicker of doubt to remain - he had seen stranger things before.

  


The silence grew uncomfortable, and Heero sought to broach it. "Do you know if Jason and Glenn ever conferred on these feelings?"

  


Robinson blinked. "No. The two of them have never gotten along very well, actually. It's not for lack of trying on Glenn's part. For some reason, every time Glenn tries to talk to Jason, he gets distant - aloof. I don't understand it."

  


Heero was about to ask another question, when Maureen interrupted his thoughts with a further ramble. "You know, that's another funny thing. Glenn's got a knack for knowing where to find everyone at any given point in time. You'd think he was a Newtype," she joked lightly. "But when it comes to Jason, he can never find him. And it bothers him to no end."

  


Heero nodded, remembering how flustered Okazaki had been when he had first met him, intercepted by Maeda in his search for Yoest. He desperately wanted to continue this topic with Robinson, but realized that she had said all she had intended for now. "Will you have time to talk later?" he asked.

  


"I think I can find some time today. Just catch me later this afternoon at the site. If you can't find me, Glenn will know where I'm at." She brushed her fingers through Jason's bangs, a concerned motherly smile on her face. "I hope he wakes up soon. I can't help worrying about him." She turned in place, and faced Yuy. "Well, I'd better get back to work. Not that there's much to get back to," she sighed, "but at least I can try to recover what we've done already. I guess I'll talk to you later. Good day, Mister Yuy." She held out her right hand.

  


He grasped her hand and shook it firmly. "It's Heero. Call me Heero," he found himself saying.

  


"Alright, Heero, I'll see you later. Bye!"

  


Heero turned from the figure of the retreating engineer back to the still body on the bed. Jason continued to sleep. As much as he burned to talk to Jason, he knew that the blonde would not be awakening any time soon. And he had more than enough work to do in the meantime.

  


"Well Quatre, or Jason, or whoever the hell you are," he addressed aloud, "I guess I'll have to wait until later for my answers."

  


*****

  


Heero spent the rest of the morning, as well as the early afternoon, speaking with the operators who had been working on Maureen's experiment. Frustratingly, none of his talks yielded any additional clues to the accident. He supposed that he should not be surprised, since all of the eyewitnesses - save Maureen and perhaps Jason - had been knocked unconscious seconds after the apparent explosion, mostly from falling debris. Still, he had entertained hope that maybe one of them had noticed something out of the ordinary immediately before the explosion.

  


Overall, it had been a productive morning. He had taken statements from all five of the injured operators and arranged to speak with them in greater detail at the site after they were released from the hospital. He thought that perhaps a visual reminder might aid in triggering a memory relating to yesterday. At the very least, he would find it easier to ask questions about things he saw when they were all in the same place.

  


As Heero gathered his notes together, he debated briefly whether to check in on Jason. Assuming the blonde was awake, he could take the opportunity to speak with him regarding the accident. By all accounts, Jason was the only witness to disaster, save perhaps Maureen, whom he had knocked out of the way. Jason's testimony could be key in regards to the case.

  


However, given the circumstances of their abrupt meeting the day previous, he was not certain he was ready yet to speak with the reluctant hero. Especially considering his perhaps-unwarranted suspicions of the blonde's identity.

  


A glance at Heero's watch made the decision for him. 14:57... if he wanted to speak with Maureen, he had to leave now.

  


Heero left the building in a hurry and jogged the three blocks between the hospital and Isomer Industrial. He knew that Maureen ran a tight schedule, so the sooner he got there the better chance he would have to speak with her.

  


Stepping onto familiar ground, he walked purposefully toward the ruined office building. Maureen was nowhere in sight, unsurprisingly. He ducked inside of a doorway and looked around, hoping to spot a familiar face, or better yet, Okazaki, who might be able to help him find Robinson.

  


Edging further into the room, Heero was startled by a soft voice behind him.

  


"Need some help?"

  


He spun in step to face the owner of the voice. His eyes widened in shock. "Quatre -"

  


An equally shocked expression met his own. "No," the other whispered aloud, "I thought you were just a dream. A hallucination brought on by the pain." He clenched his fists, unable to tear his eyes away from the Preventer.

  


_Pain? Huh? Quatre..._ Heero's head spun as he tried to process the information. He struggled to come up with a coherent thought. "Quatre, please -" He reached with out with his right arm to grasp the blonde's shoulder, as the other backed away.

  


The operator retreated from Yuy's grasp, stepping backwards toward the open door. He was about to exit the room when he bumped into something solid. "Jason! What are you doing out of the hospital?"

  


Okazaki stood in the doorway, eliminating any hope of escape. Jason turned in place so that he faced both Yuy and Okazaki and waved his hands in front of his chest. "I was released early," he replied, trying very hard to sound casual. "For good behavior," he joked.

  


Glenn was clearly not buying it, but he kept his irritation in check. His eyes fixed on Heero, curiosity evident in their depths at what he had just walked in on. "Heero, have you and Jason been introduced?"

  


Heero shook his head, still shocked, but coherent enough to recognize Okazaki's graceful save.

  


"Well then," Glenn began, motioning Jason toward Heero, "allow me to introduce you two. Heero, this is Jason Yoest, one of our plant operators. Jason, this is Heero Yuy, from the Preventers. He's here to investigate the accident."

  


Desolate tourmaline eyes met stormy cobalt eyes. Heero held out his right hand, and Jason reluctantly clasped it. A light jolt passed through the contact, both pairs of eyes widening. "A pleasure," Heero murmured.

  


"Indeed," the blonde replied, casting his eyes downward.

  


An uncomfortably silence descended on the room. Okazaki cleared his throat. "Heero, did you need anything?"

  


Yuy blinked, reminded of his task. "Yes," he replied automatically. "I was looking for Maureen. She said you would know where to find her."

  


"She's left for the day," Jason's soft voice answered instead. Glenn cocked his head to the side, a puzzled expression on his face. Yoest continued, "She had to go pick up Maria. Apparently Maria's picked up something at daycare and Maureen needs to take her to a doctor for a checkup. She didn't have time to find you before she left, so she gave me the message to give to you."

  


Okazaki nodded silently, turning to Yuy. "My apologies, then, on her behalf."

  


"It's nothing that can't wait until tomorrow," Heero said dismissively. "Although now that I have the opportunity," he began cautiously, deliberately addressing Okazaki, "would it be possible for me to steal Jason for the rest of the afternoon? I have a lot of questions that need answers."

  


Glenn's eyes narrowed critically. "Do as you see fit, Mister Yuy. But try not to wear him out. He is supposed to be resting," he said pointedly, glaring at Yoest. "Let me know if you need anything," he added, exiting the room.

  


Neither spoke for a full minute after Okazaki left the room. Yoest refused to meet Heero's eyes, and Yuy used the opportunity to observe the fair-haired youth. Jason nervously toed at the ground, kicking around a bit of drifting lint.

  


_This is getting me nowhere,_ Heero realized. Softly, in the a voice he used when comforting disaster victims, he began, "Quatre..."

  


The youth's eyes shot up and perceptively hardened, not a trace of denial evident in their depths. "What do you want, Heero?" he almost-whispered.

  


"Just some answers. Quatre," he managed, with more confidence, "what are you doing here?"

  


"I should have known they'd send you," the other spoke aloud to himself, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "It was either going to be you or Wufei. I guess it was only a matter of time."

  


"What are you talking about, Quatre?"

  


"Do you realize it's been more than two years since I've been called that name?" Heero was pinned under the gaze of a pair of bright blue eyes. "Two years... it was almost too good to be true. But I should have known it was inevitable. Sooner or later someone was going to figure it out." He looked downward again, kicking at a small piece of rubble with his boots. The anger fled from his voice, replaced by an empty tone of resignation. "So, who else knows?"

  


"Nobody."

  


"Nobody? You mean -"

  


"I have told nobody of my suspicions. It is not relevant to the case." Quatre stared at him with open-mouthed shock. "Not even Une or Chang," he added further, before Quatre could ask.

  


The blonde momentarily stunned into silence, Heero took the opportunity to ask a question of his own. "Why, Quatre? Why did you disappear without telling anyone?"

  


"I don't want to talk about it," he snapped back. Heero blinked, and Quatre continued, softer, "Not right now. Maybe - maybe some other time." He looked away from Heero's piercing indigo stare. "And it's not true that I didn't tell anyone."

  


"What?!" Heero was shocked speechless.

  


"I - even I couldn't just disappear like that! As much as I didn't want to, I knew I had to tell someone, just in case something happened."

  


"Who?" Heero felt the bile beginning to rise in his throat.

  


"Trowa."

  


A pang of jealousy struck him cleanly in the gut. All of that time spent searching, and one of his own friends had known all along and not said a word.

  


"Why Trowa? Why not me? Or Duo? Or Rashid?"

  


Quatre paled. "Because I didn't want to be found! I didn't even tell Trowa where I went - just a name to listen for on the news in case something happened. I knew he'd isolated himself at the circus, so I could trust him to keep my secret." He bit his lip, refusing to look in Yuy's direction.

  


Heero's thoughts swirled in turmoil. On the surface he was mildly annoyed with himself for neglecting to interview Trowa. He had just assumed that as Quatre's best friend, Trowa would have come forward to the Preventers on his own with any information on his friend's whereabouts.

  


But beyond that, he acknowledged an irrational jealousy that Quatre had entrusted his secret to Trowa instead of himself, even knowing that Trowa was his best friend.

  


_I have spent the past two and a half years looking for him,_ he reminded himself, checking his hurt. _So perhaps I should just appreciate the fact that I've finally found him._

  


But he could not dismiss his confusion so easily. What had happened to his gentle friend to make him want to disappear?

  


"I don't understand," Heero said, shaking his head. "This isn't like you at all."

  


Quatre's soft-voiced reply caught him off-guard. "Are you sure? How do you know? Maybe I've always been like this. Maybe," he looked away, speaking to himself, "maybe I've always been empty inside," he half-whispered.

  


"Huh?"

  


Quatre seemed alarmed that Heero was listening. "Never mind. Please, I don't want to talk about it."

  


"Quatre -"

  


"Jason," the blonde firmly corrected him, eyes flashing determinedly. "My name is Jason Yoest. Quatre Winner does not work here. As far as the rest of the world is concerned, Quatre Winner disappeared two and a half years ago. And he's never going to be found again." Quatre sent him a final withering glare before striding out of the room.

  


Heero stood still in shock for a moment, before hurrying to try to catch up with the retreating figure. He found Okazaki instead, who regarded him evenly, as if expecting answers to his unvoiced questions.

  


"You didn't scare him away, did you?" Glenn deadpanned.

  


"What?"

  


"Come on, the day that Jason Yoest willingly goes to see a doctor of his own volition..." Okazaki trailed off, frowning. "Did it go all right?"

  


Heero's shoulders slumped slightly. "For now," he muttered dejectedly.

  


Glenn's lips quirked into a derisive half-smile. "He's a difficult one, isn't he."

  


"Yeah," Yuy agreed noncommittally. "I'll need to talk to him again."

  


The supervisor nodded in acquiescence. "I'll make him available to you as much as possible. Just as long as it doesn't impede his recovery."

  


"Thank you." He paused, thoughtful. "Why is he working in his condition, anyhow?"

  


The frown from earlier returned to Glenn's face. "I don't know how he managed it, but not only did he get the doctors to sign his release papers early, he also talked Bruce into letting him come back to work today." He shook his head angrily. "I don't like it, but I don't have much of a say in the matter. The best I could do was to put him on the data recovery project with Maureen to keep him out of trouble while he's still under medical observation."

  


"Oh."

  


"Damage control," Glenn quipped sardonically. "Well, I need to get back to work now. Is there anything I can help you with before that?"

  


"No, I don't think so. I'll find you if I need anything." Glenn nodded and walked back in the direction of the former Quality Control lab.

  


As he watched Okazaki's retreating figure, an almost absurd observation occurred to him.

  


For all that Heero had talked with Quatre today, he had not asked him a single question about the accident.

  
  


tbc...

  
  


**Notes:**

**N2/Nitrogen:** The most abundant gas in the atmosphere. Nitrogen is used in a large number of chemical processes as a inert gas blanket. The inert property is due to the strong triple bond between the nitrogen atoms - the nitrogen atom itself is not intrinsically inert like argon. Since nitrogen is cheap and abundant, it is used widely in industry. Cryogenic air distillation is one means to harvest it - there are at least two other methods I can't bring to mind right now, but I recall studying about back in my Process Engineering course.

  


**toluene:** Paint thinner to most anyone. Toluene is very useful industrial solvent as well. I've described the properties as they are - trust me when I say this stuff is highly flammable, and an explosion hazard - we almost had an explosion at my work due to it, though the circumstances there were very unusual.

  


**pilot plant:** There are typically three stages to developing a manufacturing process. First is the bench phase, where you initially create your process and get it working. The next is the pilot plant phase - here you build a small version of your manufacturing plant and troubleshoot/refine your process by observing the problems that occur in a scale-up operation. The final stage is full-scale manufacturing - at this point the manufacturing process is controlled, so a new, larger plant is built, and real manufacturing takes place.

  


**MERT:** Medical Emergency Response Team. As a Manufacturing Production Manager, Glenn Okazaki would be expected to be a member of MERT. All MERT members have CPR training.

  


**"plant coffee":** I swear this is true. It's been the case at both places I've worked, and many of my former classmates attest to it as well. That sludge is FOUL.


	4. Chapter 4

Usual Disclaimer: I'm an engineer, not an anime producer. Hence, I don't own 'em. I'm just playing nicely with them for a little bit.

  


Warnings: None for this section

  


Pairings: none in this section, eventual 1+4/1x4

  


Author's note: More than 7 months after I originally started writing this chapter, I finally knuckled down and finished it. Huge thanks to everyone who has bugged me about continuing this fic over time, especially Caer, Jessie, Anne, and Quwinntessa, who have all offered input at different points. I promise to get chapters out much quicker after this one.

  


Additional notes are at the end of the chapter.

  


Dedication: To Caer, for her constant nagging and support. I wouldn't be the 1x4 fan I am today without you ^_^

  
  
****

Chapter 4

  
  


"So," Duo Maxwell drawled, favoring his friend and sometime-partner with a crafty smile, "Who gets to go first?"

  


Heero regarded his friend steadily a moment before answering. "You are the person with more freedom to speak, so logically you should go first." He smirked slightly at the small pout turning Duo's lips.

  


"All right," Maxwell conceded, deftly snagging a cucumber roll from the array of sushi in front of him. "I guess I can see your point. Is there anyone in particular that you want me to start with?" He put his chopsticks down and dug around in his backpack, pulling out a thick file folder and small data disk, which he placed on the table in front of him. Yuy dropped his chopsticks and made a motion to grab them, but Duo threw his arm in front of them, blocking his reach. "Uh-uh," he shook his head. "Not until you give me the dirt that goes with it." He saw the question forming on Heero's lips and intercepted it. "I mean, not until you tell me what's going on. If it means you have to ask Une to add me to the case then so be it."

  


Heero was taken aback by Duo's vehemence. Typically Duo tried to stay far away from Heero's caseload, content to work in the background away from the action. "Why are you so interested in this case?" he asked cautiously.

  


Maxwell absently fingered the edges of the printouts in the folder. "Something to do with what I found. Look, I'll just get on with it. I'm sure you'll figure it out when I get to it." Heero stared at him curiously, unnoticed by Duo, who stared down at the folder in his hands. "So," he continued, still without looking up, "who do you want to talk about first?"

  


"Maeda."

  


Duo rolled his eyes. "Sure, pick the boring one to start off with, all right. Let's see..." He closed his eyes as he rattled off the statistics. "Forty-six years old, married with two children, aged 9 and 12. Current president of Isomer Industrial - has held the position for the past three years... ummm, does a lot of community service - those big guys always have to do that kinda stuff," he clarified.

  


"What's his background in?"

  


Duo tilted his head as he recalled the information. "Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering, and Masters in Business. Anything else?"

  


"Did you find anything unusual about him?"

  


Duo shrugged his shoulders. "Naw, he's a pretty normal guy." He sipped his tea, observing Heero over the rim of his teacup. "So who's next?" he asked with practiced casualness.

  


"Glenn Okazaki."

  


Duo gulped down a tuna roll before starting. Heero pointedly took his time eating each piece of sushi. "The Manufacturing Production Manager, right?" Heero nodded. "Okay. Thirty-seven years old, single. Previously worked as a supervisor on a Leo production line during the first war," he quirked his lips slightly, "and before that worked as an operator in a chemical plant."

  


"I know."

  


Duo threw up his hands. "Hey, who's running this thing here? You didn't exactly tell me what you knew ahead of time, so you're getting everything now." Heero had the decency to look a little contrite. Duo sighed. "Can I continue now?"

  


"Yes," Heero replied evenly. He had forgotten what a short fuse his friend had, particularly when interrupted.

  


"Good. Okay, so I guess I can skip his work background then. There wasn't much to pick up on his personal background. He lives alone in a condo that he owns, and his mother moved about a year ago to live three miles away from him."

  


Heero committed the details to memory for the moment. He expected that Duo had recorded most of them on the data disk he would be given by the end of the night. "Anything else?"

  


Duo frowned, caught up in recall once again. Idly he flipped open the folder in front of him to the section devoted to Okazaki. He glanced down, skimming his typewritten notes to jog his memory. "Shit," his eyes widened, "I forgot about that."

  


"What?" Heero leaned over the table, trying to catch a glance of the printout. Maxwell snapped the binder shut in his face.

  


"Uh-uh," he smiled, wagging a finger. "What did I tell you earlier?"

  


Heero frowned, chastised, and leaned away. Duo accepted his silence as an answer, and continued, more somberly. "I saw that he used to supervise a Leo production line, so I got curious and dug around a little," he explained. He shook his head. "Man, you wouldn't believe the kind of background checks they did on these guys! Education, criminal background, _lineage_..." He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, that's OZ for you right there."

  


Heero stared at him coolly. "Duo, get to the point."

  


"All right! I was getting there!" He ruffled through the folder again, causing the top three sheets to scatter on the one part of the table not occupied by food. Heero contemplated making a grab for the pages, but decided that keeping Maxwell on-task was more important.

  


"Found it!" Duo waved the document in Heero's face tauntingly. Heero stared at him impassively, pointedly ignoring the paper in front of him. Duo shrugged, gesturing down at the sheet. "I guess this was what surprised me the most. These are his Beckman-Garcowski scores. Very high," he paused significantly, meeting Heero's attentive stare. "High enough to classify him as a Type IV Newtype."

  


Whatever kind of reaction Duo was expecting at the revelation, confusion was evidently it. Heero leaned forward and looked over the paper once, before addressing his former partner, a note of annoyance creeping into his voice. "Duo, that's the second time I've heard that word today. What's a Newtype?"

  


Duo's eyebrows constricted together. "You've never heard of Newtypes?" Heero shook his head, puzzlement plain on his face.

  


Duo leaned back from the table, folding his hands together as he composed his thoughts. "'Newtype' is a generic term for humans with psionic abilities - what some people call 'psychics.'" Heero nodded at him to continue. "Each Type is characterized by a different ability. Glenn's scores classify him as a Type IV Newtype - clairvoyant. Type II Newtypes are telekinetics, Type IIIs claim precognition..." Duo spoke faster as he warmed up to the subject. "Type V Newtypes are telepathic, and Type VIs are empaths. They sense other peoples' emotions - you know, kinda like Quat-"

  


He stopped mid-sentence, ruing his words the moment they left his lips.

  


Heero threw his palms flat on the table, leaning forward to catch Duo's gaze before he could think to avert it. "What do you mean, 'kinda like Quatre'?" he asked, his voice deadly calm.

  


"I..." Duo stammered and bit his lip, lost for words. Heero continued to glare at him from across the table, silently urging him to hurry with his elucidation.

  


Realizing he was not going to get out of an explanation, Duo tried a different approach. "Do - do you remember when he used to talk about the Soul of Outer Space? He called it his Spaceheart," he added quickly.

  


Heero nodded slowly, as he began to understand the direction Duo was heading in with his line of thought. Duo continued, "He told me once, right after we met, that through his Spaceheart he was able to experience the emotions of others. I didn't think much of it until later, when I went to tell him I'd seen Trowa -"

  


"Wait," Heero interrupted. "_You_ found Trowa?"

  


Duo frowned. "You didn't know?"

  


Heero shook his head. He had ceased to loom over the table, and sat now in his seat, with his hands folded in his lap. "I was never told. And I never thought to ask. It was not important at the time."

  


Duo sighed. "Yeah, we all had more important things to worry about back then." He fumbled with his chopsticks distractedly, trying unsuccessfully to pick up a piece of unagi. The eel slipped from his grasp twice before he gave up and speared it with one chopstick, eliciting a small cringe from his dinner companion. "Anyhow," he began again, waving his left hand dismissively, "as I was saying, I'd learned from the news that he was back with his family and paid him a surprise visit. Somewhere in the course of our conversation I ended up telling him about how I'd seen Trowa at the circus."

  


Heero leaned forward in his seat. "And?" he prompted.

  


"He was so shocked he dropped his teacup. I thought he was going to faint, at first, and I moved to his side; but he shrugged me away and immediately went about cleaning up the spill." Duo snorted. "Well, two can play at that game. I refused to tell him anything more about the circus until he explained his reaction. And that was when he brought up his Spaceheart again.

  


"His reaction, he claimed, was not so much due to the news that Trowa was alive - but rather, because his Spaceheart had already sensed as much. I had only served to confirm it."

  


Duo paused for breath, giving Heero time to absorb his words and formulate questions. Heero's brow furrowed as he digested the information. Something in what Duo said did not add up. "Wait a moment," he entreated, as he recognized what bothered him. "What does this have to do with empathy?"

  


Duo's face fell. He played with end of his braid, refusing to look at Heero. "It's his Spaceheart," he mumbled, barely audible. "His Spaceheart always told him how others felt. Heero," his voice rose as he looked up to regard the man sitting across from him, "his Spaceheart _is_ empathy. Or at least a manifestation of it." He fell silent, looking at his plate, his braid, the wall - anything but Heero.

  


"Duo?" _This conversation is bothering Duo,_ he realized. He had never given much thought to how Quatre's disappearance had affected the other pilots. Wufei had borne it stoically and moved on. Trowa simply isolated himself even more than before. But Duo... he had never considered Duo's feelings.

  


He leaned over the table and grasped Duo's shoulder, squeezing it gently in a rare gesture of comfort. "I'm sorry," he whispered. _I'm sorry for forgetting about you, my friend._

  


"'I'm sorry' won't bring him back! What the hell was he thinking?" Duo's head jerked up, violet eyes blazing. "Didn't he realize that some of us actually cared about him? That we worry? That," he pinned his gaze on Heero, "some of us would spend all of their free time looking for him?"

  


"Duo..." Heero began. "Duo, I - "

  


"No, don't make excuses, Heero. And don't apologize." He sighed deeply. "I'm sorry I brought it up. I didn't expect to go off like this." He waved his right hand in the air, laughing self-deprecatingly. "I think I've been repressing all of this. It was probably time I let it out." The fire in his eyes subsided. "I didn't mean to lash out at you. You of all people - you've actually been trying to do something about it."

  


Papers fluttered to the floor as Duo pushed his plate aside, his appetite gone. His lips twisted into a bare smile as he picked up his teacup. "Wish I'd ordered the sake after all," he muttered wryly before downing the contents of the cup. The smile dropped from his lips, and with a serious mien, he regarded his former partner. "Anyhow, you didn't come here to watch me have an emotional breakdown. You came here for information about this case. So I guess I should get on with it, right?"

  


Heero nodded dumbly, accepting the change in topic even as he desired further discussion. _Now would not be the time to ask about Jason._ He would try to draw Duo out later, after he had time to calm down. "What do you have on Maureen Robinson?"

  


"Chief Automation Engineer. Thirty years of age, widowed, with one child, age five - Maria Clark."

  


"Widowed?" Heero surprised himself by asking.

  


"Yeah, widowed. Casualty of war." He swallowed, as if he had difficulty speaking. Heero remained silent, waiting for him to continue. Duo tilted his head back and closed his eyes. "His name was Trant Clark. He was an OZ officer, stationed at the Lunar Base - right around the time we were stuck there, come to think of it..." Duo trailed off, thoughtful.

  


Heero's eyes widened.

  


Duo continued speaking, oblivious to Heero's reaction. "I've got a file on him, if you're interested. I didn't look at it much myself, seeing as how he can't exactly be a suspect." His lips turned up into a sardonic smile before he turned his attention from Heero to the folder perched precariously on the edge of the table. He grabbed it and pulled it back in front of him, ignoring the papers strewn on the floor from earlier. Absently, he leafed through the documents, his eyes scanning the pages as though he were trying to remind himself of something.

  


Heero frowned. Duo's memory was excellent - far better than an average human's - but he had already had two memory lapses this evening.

  


Was something wrong with Duo? Could stress somehow be affecting his recall?

  


Or, perhaps more disturbing - was Duo trying to keep something from him?

  


He shook his head to dismiss those thoughts, berating himself for not keeping in better contact with his former comrade. He returned his attention to Maxwell, who watched him curiously, waiting for his attention before speaking.

  


Duo's fingers continued to flip through the pages aimlessly as he resumed his discourse where he left off earlier. "Anyhow, in case you're curious, it looks like Maureen didn't change her name when they married because she was working toward her Professional Engineer certification at the time. At least, that's my guess, seeing as how she passed it only two months after her wedding."

  


Heero nodded in agreement. "And after that?" he prompted.

  


"After getting her P.E., she went to work as a mechanical design engineer at Wilson Engineering, the aerospace firm that had most of the OZ aircraft contracts. She was there for almost two years, until she went on maternity leave to have Maria. She was back to work only two months when the war started. She left her job so that she could move closer to the base her husband was stationed on."

  


"I thought you said her husband was on the lunar base?" Heero interrupted.

  


"Not at first. He was stationed in Siberia until shortly after Operation Daybreak. She moved to L2 right around the time he was transferred to the lunar base. Benefits of being in OZ, I guess," he smirked.

  


"When did she start working at Isomer Industrial?"

  


"Around April 196. She answered a job req for an Automation Engineer with two years' design experience. About six months ago she received a promotion to the position of Senior Automation Engineer."

  


"Hmm," Heero replied noncommittally. He was surprised that Maureen had gone back to work so soon, less than a year after her husband's death. Then again, he mused, she may not have had a choice - supporting a child on an OZ pension alone would have been nearly impossible. Though in some ways it seemed as though it could have only helped her - he never would have guessed that the bubbly, cheerful woman he had met yesterday was a war widow. "Do you have any more information on her?"

  


"No." Heero wondered at the relief in Duo's voice. "I guess that means there's only one person left..."

  


"Jason Yoest," Heero confirmed quietly.

  


Duo sighed dramatically. "Well, this one is easy," he muttered, frowning. He threw down the folder he was still holding in front of Heero. "Nothing."

  


"Nothing?"

  


Duo turned the folder around so that it faced Heero and opened it to dog-eared page near the back. "About as good as nothing. I couldn't even get a picture of the guy."

  


Heero was intrigued. "What did you find, then?"

  


"Absolutely nothing pre-dating his employment at Isomer. There's no record of this guy's past. It's like he came out of nowhere - which makes me suspect he isn't whomever he claims himself to be." He frowned and chewed his lower lip. Heero looked at him expectantly.

  


"I think he did it."

  


_"What?!"_ Heero leaned forward in his seat dangerously.

  


"Come on, you can't possibly tell me he isn't a suspect!" Duo gaped at him, wide-eyed in disbelief. Heero looked down, steadily avoiding his gaze. "He isn't, is he? You really think this guy isn't the least bit suspicious?"

  


Heero continued to stare at the file open in front of him.

  


Duo's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What do you know?" he asked slowly, voice thick with insinuation. When that failed to get a response, he leaned forward and slapped his palm flat over the page, obscuring the notes.

  


Heero finally looked up at him. His left eye twitched.

  


"You know something, right?" Duo tried again, gentler. "What is it?"

  


"Jason Yoest is not responsible for the accident."

  


"How can you be so certain of that?"

  


Heero bit back his response, caught off-guard by Duo's retort.

  


How could he be certain? It was not as if he had not already had his own doubts, earlier, when speaking with Maureen.

  


But... this was Quatre. Quatre would never do something like that. At least, not intentionally...

  


Looking at it from Duo's perspective, though - of course it made sense. After all, given what clues he had so far, were he not so certain that Jason was Quatre, what would he be led to think? Jason made a very reasonable suspect - especially when given his clouded past and predilection for privacy.

  


No, he reminded himself sharply. There was still one factor he was neglecting to consider.

  


"Assuming he was behind the accident, as you purport," he supposed, "then why would he risk drawing attention to himself by going back inside of a burning building, to rescue the only witnesses to his crime?"

  


"Whoa, wait a second," Duo held up his right hand to forestall any further questions. "He's the one who saved the workers?"

  


"Yes."

  


Duo remained silent for a long moment while he digested the information.

  


With a resigned sigh, he fixed his gaze on Heero. "Well, that just about blows my theory. Damn." He blinked, shaking his head as if to clear it. "This case is a lot more complicated than I initially thought."

  


_You don't know the half of it._

  


"Still..." Duo's gaze lingered on the folder he had bequeathed to Yuy. "I think I want to be assigned to this case."

  


Fighting down a surge of irrational possessiveness, Heero forced his voice to reply evenly. "Why?"

  


"Why not? It's obvious that you could use some help with the investigation. And I'm already up on the people involved, if not the events. I'm sure that if you asked Une nicely enough she'd have no problem adding me as well. It's not like she isn't already paying me to be on this case in the first place." Duo rested his elbows on the table as he finished speaking, casting an expectant look in Yuy's direction.

  


Heero regarded him coolly from across the table, unconvinced. After a minute of silence, Duo's patience gave out. "Well?"

  


"No." Heero raised his right hand, cutting off Duo's forthcoming objection. "Not yet. I need some time to pursue some leads of my own, first." Again he cut off Duo with a gesture. "Alone."

  


Maxwell looked ready to voice an objection, but when he opened his mouth, no words came out. He clamped it shut immediately and frowned, furrowing his brows in thought. "All right, Heero," he spoke after a moment's contemplation, "I can wait. But don't expect to keep whatever your big secret is hidden away from me too long. I've got resources, too," he added, smirking.

  


Heero shook his head, allowing a slight smile to slip as he stood up from the table. Taking the hint, Duo rose from his seat as well, automatically thrusting his right hand forward. Yuy gripped it with his own, feeling his arm pulled as Duo shook his hand with typical enthusiasm.

  


Duo released his hand a moment later, a fond, genuine smile gracing his lips. "It's been a while, Yuy. We should do this more often."

  


"Industrial sabotage investigations? If you like it so much, Maxwell, you really should consider taking a full-time position with the Preventers."

  


Duo gaped dumbly at him for half a second, before bursting into laughter. "Damnit, Yuy, I will never get used to you joking," he managed, holding his stomach as tears streamed down his face.

  


Heero maintained his deadpan expression as he gathered the scattered sheets of notes from the floor into the already-thick file folder. Satisfied that he had found them all, he moved to leave the table when he remembered something. "Duo, where is that disk you promised me?"

  


Duo grinned as he handed a paper-wrapped object to Heero. "There you go. That should be everything, right?" Heero nodded, noting that the object in his hand was shaped like the disk Duo had shown him earlier. "All right, then, I guess this is where we part ways. Give me a call when you're ready to take me on as well!" With a wink and a jaunty wave, Maxwell made his abrupt exit from the restaurant.

  


Heero shrugged. He was accustomed enough to Duo's odd behaviors that the quick departure did not strike him as anything out of the ordinary. He looked down and carefully unwrapped the object Duo had handed him. It was, as he expected, the data disk. He hoped that it would yield additional clues when he studied its contents.

  


He carefully placed it in the front right pocket of his Preventers jacket. He was about to crumble up the paper as well, when the writing on it caught his eye. He unfolded it and skimmed it, grateful at once that he had not given into the impulse to throw it away.

  


Duo had left him with the check.

  
  


tbc...

  
  


**Notes:**

  


**Newtype:** Just to clarify here, this most definitely does /not/ refer to 'Newtypes' from the Universal Century Gundam Universe. I'm using the word 'newtype' here generically, in the same sense that much of gundam wing fandom has adopted it.

  


**Professional Engineer (P.E.):** Many engineering firms require particular types of engineers (usually civil, mechanical, and automation) to pass the Professional Engineer certification. From what I've heard (please feel free to correct me if you've gone through it yourself), it involves rigorous testing that covers all fields of engineering, not just what discipline your degree is in. Usually the testing is done within a year of graduation. Government and consulting firms especially prefer engineers with their P.E.s - even the ChemEs who went to work for consulting firms after graduation had to get theirs.

  
  


_Next Time_ - getting back to Heero and Quatre.


	5. Chapter 5

It's been a while, hasn't it? meep...

Usual Disclaimer: I'm an engineer, not an anime producer. Hence, I don't own 'em. I'm just playing nicely with them for a bit.

Warnings: Yet More OCs; angst; slow updates; cliffhanger? (I didn't think so when I wrote it, but I've been told otherwise since)

Additional notes are at the end of the chapter.

Dedication: To Jefcat, for staging the hunger strike on the 4x1-1x4ml, and sticking with me through two fandoms. I hope it was worth the wait.

  
  


**Chapter 5**

  
  
  


Bright and early, Heero arrived at the site at 7 AM promptly the following morning, determined to schedule an interview with Senior Automation Engineer Robinson before another emergency pulled her away from her job. A cursory search of the grounds found her in the former Process Engineering Laboratory, directing the recovery of one of the modified mobile suits.

"Good morning, Heero!" Maureen waved to him from across the room as he entered. "Grab a hard hat and some safety glasses. There should be some spares to your left." Heero complied, donning a lab coat at the same time, to protect his uniform from the dust. Fully suited, he crossed the room and took his place at what he deemed a safe distance from the recovery efforts.

Maureen flashed him a quick smile before turning back to address her crew. "Hey everyone! Ten minute break while I chat with Preventer Yuy."

It was not until all of the operators had left the room that she turned back to regard Heero. "Sorry for the wait. I wanted to make sure they all got out of here safely before we talked." She frowned, her gaze flickering from Heero's face to trail the destruction of the room around them. "No matter how many times Ted reassures me, I'm still going to worry about my crew."

"Ted?"

"Oh, sorry. Ted Wilson, the Assistant Safety Engineer. Have you met him?"

Thinking back to the multitude of names and faces Maeda had introduced to him within his first hour on-site, Heero was fairly certain he placed the person correctly. "Theodore Wilson." The image of a balding man in his late thirties came to his mind. "He works for the civil engineering firm Isomer hired to assist with the plant scale-up."

Maureen nodded. "He's our safety guy around here. Ever since the accident, he's been working sixteen-hour days, helping to get things running, and trying to keep people like Glenn and myself from doing our jobs," she grinned.

Heero made a mental note to schedule an interview with Wilson as soon as possible. "Is he the primary representative from his company?"

"No. That would be Ted's boss, Jim Dornowski. He'd be the person to talk to if you have any questions about safety regulations. He spends most of his time at the new site across town, so if you want to talk to him you'd probably be best off driving over there and asking for an interview in person." She smiled, a mischievous light in her eyes. "Don't be afraid to abuse your status as a Preventer to get an immediate interview. I'm told he's very hard to get a hold of. I've even heard rumors," she deadpanned, "that he works more hours in a week than our very own Jason Yoest," she finished with a wink.

Heero started, reflexively schooling the surprise from his features. Why did he find the idea so surprising? Quatre had always been a hard worker; he had proven himself more than capable of taking over Winner Enterprises, even at the age of fifteen. Not once during the time he had known him had Quatre voiced a single complaint about the burden he was expected to assume when the war was over.

_But that's it, isn't it?_ he realized with sudden clarity. When his initial search efforts failed, Heero had bought into the popular assumption that Quatre disappeared because he had not wanted the responsibility thrust upon him as CEO of Winner Enterprises. That there was more to it, that his voluntary disappearance was related to something other than the burden of the family business...

Unbidden, Quatre's own words returned to the forefront of his mind: _"Maybe... maybe I've always been empty inside._

Heero had never even considered the possibility.

Picking up on the thread of conversation from early, Heero decided to turn it around to his interest. "Speaking of which, where is Mr. Yoest today?"

"Jason? I haven't seen him yet today. I expect he's working on the project I left him with yesterday." Maureen furrowed her brows, a thoughtful look on her face. "Have you gotten a chance to talk to him yet?"

"Yes." Heero considered his response carefully. "But given his role in the incident, I will require a more extensive, formal interview."

Maureen's laughter surprised him. "He got you, didn't he?" she asked with obvious mirth.

Heero looked at her in puzzlement. "What do you mean?"

Maureen grinned. "Jason. He's just like that. If he doesn't want to tell you something, he'll find some way to get around it. It frustrates Glenn to no end; sometimes I wonder if he does it on purpose to drive him crazy." Her smile dropped off suddenly, her previous mirth forgotten. "But in all seriousness, I'm sure you'll have no problem talking to him once he knows it's for the good of the investigation."

__

If only I had the same confidence as you. Heero nodded simply in response. He would tackle the Jason Yoest interview later; first, he needed to schedule a much more important one. "But on that topic," he responded, "I missed the opportunity to interview you yesterday afternoon." He paused and looked around the room, noting the state of disorder. "When would be a good time to take a statement?"

"Thirteen hundred." The answer was spoken firmly without a trace of hesitation. Heero pulled out his datapad and made a note of the time. "I'll be busy most of the morning getting this monster," she gestured at the still half-buried mobile suit, "out of the rubble and into the clear, so that we can get Jason to do a damage assessment on it."

Heero had opened his mouth to ask another question when a shout from across the room cut him off. "Hey Maureen!"

Two heads turned to follow the voice. An operator Heero did not recognize poked his head into the lab.

"What is it, Scott?"

The young operator stepped into the lab and cleared his throat self-consciously. "Umm, I'm sorry to interrupt. Glenn sent me to ask you for an estimate of when you expect to be done."

Heero watched with interest as Maureen made a show out of inspecting the room. Once an appropriate amount of time for mental calculation passed, she looked back to the operator and gave him a weak smile. "Tell him fourteen hundred."

Heero's protest was cut short by a quick smile and surreptitious wink.

Scott, however, seemed pleased enough with the answer. He smiled nervously and bowed his head. "I'll let him know. Thank you!" The operator disappeared just as quickly as he had appeared, running down the hallway in apparent haste.

Maureen sighed and shook her head, brushing the dust off of her hands onto her very dirty lab coat. "That should keep Glenn off of our backs for a bit. Otherwise," she arched an eyebrow at Heero, "you'll never get that interview."

Heero was puzzled by her deception. "Why didn't you just ask him directly?"

"Oh, I will, don't worry." Maureen was completely unflustered by his response. "It's just easier this way - less bureaucracy, with the same results. You know, cardinal rule of engineering: 'It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission.'" She shook her head. "I'll tell him before I leave work today. I just don't feel like sending the message through a middleman, and I don't have the time to hunt him down now."

Heero nodded, finally satisfied with her answer. Privately, he reserved doubt that the recovery would be completed by fourteen hundred hours, much less thirteen hundred, but left it to the expertise of the Senior Automation Engineer to determine the time. He would be there at thirteen hundred for the interview, regardless.

Taking notice of the operators trickling back into the room, Heero turned to Robinson. "I will see you at thirteen hundred, then."

Maureen gave him another smile. Upon reflection, Heero could not recall the last time he had met someone who smiled so much. "Yes. You'll find me here, come hell or high water. I'll work through lunch if I have to."

Heero nodded, interpreting her words as a dismissal. He walked carefully across the lab and removed the lab coat, hard hat, and safety glasses at the door. The day was still young, and it would be another six hours before he could interview Robinson. Heero decided to check in with Okazaki and see if the man could put him in contact with Wilson for an interview.

Finding Glenn, however, proved to be an unusually difficult task. After a quarter hour of unfruitful searching, Heero conceded defeat and approached Maeda instead.

"Glenn?" The president seemed distracted as he answered him. "He's on an off-site assignment for the rest of the day. Do you have his number?"

_Off-site assignment?_ Heero puzzled over Bruce's cryptic response. "Yes," he replied guardedly. "But I was hoping to speak with him regarding the case."

The words seemed to have a dousing effect on Maeda. A pair of tired brown eyes shifted quickly to focus on him; Heero privately wondered when Bruce had last slept. "My apologies. I was not thinking clearly." Maeda removed his glasses from his face and absently wiped them in his jacket. "All of my staff is available for questioning as you need them." He paused, a thoughtful look crossing his brow. "Actually, come to think of it, he should be back some time this afternoon. If it's urgent, I can contact him and delay the assignment."

Heero held a hand up. "No need. I have others I need to speak with first. Though," recalling his initial intention in searching out Okazaki, "perhaps you could put me in contact with Theodore Wilson?"

A well-practiced flip of the wrist brought a two-way radio into Maeda's right hand. "Ted? This is Bruce Maeda. Do you read me?"

Static crackled over the open channel momentarily before a response came though. "This is Ted Wilson. What do you need, Bruce?"

"Preventer Yuy needs to speak with you," he paused just long enough to get a confirming nod from Heero, "concerning the accident. What's your availability today?"

"Give me twenty minutes to finish up over here, and another five to clear my schedule with Jim. I'll meet Mister Yuy in the break tent at 800. Will that do?"

Maeda looked at Heero. "That will suffice." Maeda nodded and relayed Heero's confirmation to Wilson before signing off. "Is there anything else you need, Mister Yuy?"

Heero took a moment to consider his afternoon schedule. Outside of the hour allotted for Robinson's interview and statement, he had nothing planned. "I would like to begin reviewing the Vidbot footage in detail this afternoon. Can it be made available by 1400?"

"Certainly. I'll get someone onto it right away, and let you know when it's ready." Maeda jotted a few notes into his personal organizer, which had taken the place of the two-way radio in his hand. "Anything else?"

"That is all for now. Thank you." Heero bowed his head quickly and started walking in the direction of the break tent. He had another half hour left to kill before his scheduled meeting with Wilson, and decided now would be a good time to check in on the recovery efforts around the site, to give him a better idea of the sort of work Wilson had been doing for the past couple of days.

A detour to the former office building gave him some insight into the difference that even twelve hours made on structural reinforcement. Despite the knowledge that crews had been working around the clock reinforcing damaged supports and digging out critical labs, it was still a shock to him to find rooms that had been taped off at 5 PM the previous day already re-opened and in the process of damage cataloguing.

He had only taken two steps into the former Quality Control laboratory before all eyes turned from the task at hand to focus on Heero. Unfazed by the attention, he stood his ground, slowly turning his head to take in the extent of the damage and matching it against his memory of the room the previous day.

Though the floor was still littered with shards of broken glass, a path had been cleared through the major walkways to each of the lab benches and fume hoods. A whole quarter of the lab remained taped off, where three technicians in full SCUBA gear worked to clean up a chemical spill in a malfunctioning fume hood. He assumed that the rest of the fume hoods had been similarly taken care of before the workers had been allowed back into the lab; still, he noted that all of the technicians were wearing lab coats and gloves as a precautionary measure.

To his immediate right, a small stack of lab notebooks occupied the corner of a cleared bench. Those notebooks, he realized, were probably the most valuable items in room - more valuable than any of the expensive chemical analysis equipment, the notebooks held months of experimental data and probably at least a few company secrets. Heero wondered belatedly if perhaps the notebooks should have been transferred to a more secure location.

His reverie was broken by the crunch of glass under heavy boots, an early warning of the person approaching him from behind. As if freed from a trance, the workers started as one and went back to their previous tasks. Heero turned in place to face a frowning dark-complexioned woman in her late forties. "Can I help you?" a gravelly voice enquired.

Heero's hand moved automatically to the inside pocket of his jacket. "Preventer Heero Yuy," he introduced himself, handing his badge to the woman for inspection. Pulling it close to her face, she squinted at the picture a moment before passing it back to him.

"Laura Davis, Quality Control Manager." Her frown dropped away, replaced by a small, ironic smile. "I'd welcome you in, but as you can see, my place isn't in any condition for visitors right now. Do you need anything in particular?"

Heero shook his head. "I was on my way to meet with Theodore Wilson, and I was checking in on the recovery efforts along the way." He made a quick visual sweep of the room once again, committing the image to memory. "When do you expect to be functional again?"

Davis shrugged on a lab coat and pulled a pair of nitrile gloves over her hands. "A couple of days, a couple of months." She gestured expansively to the room around her. "What difference does it make, if I don't have product to test?" Bitterness undercut her tone sharply. "We'll be _functional_ in another two days, once the replacement GC column gets in, and we've catalogued and cleaned this mess up. Until then, any chemical analyses you need done will have to be sent off-site. Is that sufficient?"

It was in fact better than he expected, after having his first glimpse of the lab the previous day. He nodded. "Yes, it is. I will inform you if I require your assistance. Thank you." A curt nod, and he was dismissed. Heero stepped past the woman, back out into the immediately adjoining room.

The sudden strange familiarity of the room jolted him; a half-minute of hard thinking later, and Heero realized the reason for it. It was the same room he had encountered Quatre in the day previous.

_Or should I say, Jason,_ he thought with no small amount of rue. The mystery of Quatre Raberba Winner's whereabouts, finally solved, was only now replaced by Quatre's own baffling reasons behind it.

Two and a half years, half a dozen promising leads, countless personal interviews - all of it wasted effort, fruitless searching, but Heero could not help but feel that it had accomplished _something_. Peace of mind; the knowledge that he had researched every avenue open to him.

In the end, the means made no difference - he had found him, albeit it through possibly the strangest set of circumstances imaginable. He had to be thankful for that much.

Even if Quatre stubbornly refused to acknowledge their shared past.

Giving the room a final cursory glance, Heero dismissed the musings for the moment, refocusing his mind on his objective for the day. His goal was to have at least one realistic hypothesis for the accident by the end of the day, and taking into account the schedule he had set for himself, that goal was not an entirely unrealistic one.

The bright early artificial morning sunshine glared off of broken mirrored windows, making Heero avert his eyes and hurry toward the break tent. Once inside, he made his way over to the beverage station, passing up the coffee (he refused to make the same mistake twice!) in favor of a cup of Earl Grey tea. Someone had thoughtfully put a bowl of fruit in place of the donut box on one of the tables, making Heero's choice of seating simple.

07:49... Six minutes to eat his breakfast before he entered into Wilson's arrival window. Biting into the pear from the fruit bowl, he pulled his mobile phone out of his pocket and checked his voicemail. There was only one message: Chang, communicating Une's approval of Maxwell's involvement with the case.

Heero carefully tucked the phone back into his jacket and took one final bite of the pear just as a flash of sunlight in his peripheral vision caught his attention. Turning in his seat, he was greeted with the ruddy-faced, slightly rotund visage of the Assistant Safety Engineer.

"Ted Wilson, Alexandria Engineering," the man said by way of greeting, thrusting his hand forward. Heero rose from his seat to grasp the proffered hand.

"Preventer Heero Yuy."

"Nice to meet you, Mister Yuy." Wilson released Heero's hand. He turned in the direction of the beverage station. "8 AM and I'm already beat. I'm going to grab a cup of joe before we get started. Can I get you anything? Cup of coffee?"

"No thank you," he averred quickly, perhaps a little too eagerly. Wilson cocked an eyebrow, but otherwise said nothing as he fixed his own cup.

Returning to the table with his coffee in hand, Wilson took the seat opposite Yuy. "Well, you've got me for the next two hours, barring any unforeseen emergencies. Which might not be saying much, seeing as how things have been going the past couple of days," he added as an aside.

Heero's eyes turned to focus on the engineer. Deliberately making a show of pulling the data recorder from the inside pocket of his jacket, Heero's hard stare matched his cool tone, as he pressed the record button in full view of the man across from him. "Mister Wilson, please elaborate on your previous statement."

Wilson did not seem at all surprised or put-off by the Preventer's sudden change in tone. Straightening up in his seat, he was all business, any trace of previous joviality gone. "I want to clarify first, for the record, that the 'unforeseen emergencies' I speak of are not suspicious in nature." Heero nodded, silently prompting the other man to continue. "However, in the two days since the accident that occurred on this site at 07:57 AM August 26th A.C. 199, there have been a seven emergency incidents requiring immediate response by my team."

"Please detail the nature of the emergencies."

Wilson sipped his coffee. "Well, not counting the accident itself as one of them, there were four fires scattered around the site, still smoldering under wreckage that had just been uncovered." Heero remembered Okazaki saying something about the fires still burning his first night there. "They - the fires, that is - should have put themselves out by the end of the first day, so the workers wanted to avoid taking any chances by calling the experts in.

"I took some samples of the ash and sent it offsite for analysis to check on the chemical, but the fires themselves were easily contained. I should get the results sometime tomorrow, if you're interested."

Recalling Glenn's own reservations about the nitrogen controller, Heero was most certainly interested in the results. "Yes. Please inform me when you receive the results. I would like a copy of them for my files." Pausing a moment to sip his cooling tea, Heero pulled out his datapad and called up a map of the site. "Can you indicate on this map the location of the fires?"

Wilson leaned over the table to inspect the display. "Here, here, here, and there," he indicated each location with the pointer. "I've got them taped off for the time being, so that nobody wanders in and gets exposed to god-knows-what, but if you need access, or if you just want to take a look, let me know and I'll get you suited up so that you can go in. I don't want to take any chances until I get that analysis back from the lab."

Theodore Wilson, Heero decided, was the sort of man who took his job very seriously. He nodded his approval before moving onto the next topic. "What was the nature of the other three emergencies?"

"Well," Wilson constricted his brows together thoughtfully, "there was a shelf in the QC lab that collapsed last night around 2100. I don't know why they called me in for it; maybe to check to see if anything else in the room was due to fall apart from the stress." A wry smile quirked at the edges of Wilson's lips, betraying his hidden joke. He reached down and pulled a two-way radio out of his belt. Heero leaned over the table to inspect the digital display - a date/time log of all calls taken on the device.

"Ah..." Wilson handed the radio to the Preventer. Heero bit back a wince at the displayed time. "This one was an odor complaint, from the room next to the Process Engineering Lab. Because of the toluene scare, they gave me a call to check up on things." Wilson paused for a drink of his rapidly cooling coffee. "I guess _technically_ it wasn't an emergency, but anything that gets me up and at the site at 3 A.M. tends to get logged that way when I fill out my timecard."

Heero frowned. "What did you determine the cause to be?"

Wilson waved his hand. "They were putting in additional supports in the Process Engineering Lab for the mobile suit recovery project. The smell was from the quick-drying solvent they were using." He shrugged. "Most solvents smell the same to the untrained nose, so they were probably right in calling me in. Though I do wish they'd checked next door first - you'd think the noise would have tipped them off."

"And the last?" Heero prompted.

Wilson frowned. "One of the plant operators collapsed outside of the office building in the evening of the 26th. He was admitted to the hospital overnight for medical attention."

Heero exhaled hard. Careful to keep his voice steady, he asked for the confirmation he knew he did not need. "Name?"

"Jason Yoest." Wilson eyed him thoughtfully from across the table. Heero quickly unclenched his fists, palms flat on the table to avoid further temptation. "I wasn't there for the incident itself, but I checked out the surrounding area once the med team took him away, for physical or chemical hazards." Wilson shrugged. "Nothing. And since his medical tests came back clean as well, I've written it up as 'severe exhaustion' on the report I submitted."

Though it concurred with test results he had looked over at the hospital, it did not make Heero feel any better about the incident. Something about Quatre's - _Jason's_, he reminded himself sharply - fainting spell still bothered him, and he had hoped the safety engineer's recounting would shed some light on it.

But instead, he was just as much in the dark as before, and would likely continue to be; it was highly unlikely that Jason would ever chose to volunteer the information.

Heero scrutinized his notes and jotted a few additional details into the datapad before returning his attention to the man across from him. "Was that everything concerning the emergencies?"

"Yes." Wilson returned the radio to his belt. "Anything else?"

Heero fingered the stop button on the data recorder a moment before depressing it. "That's everything for the record. But if you have some time right now, I would appreciate it if you told me more about the reinforcement and restructuring activities taking place on the site."

For the first time that morning, Wilson's eyes lit up. "Certainly! I'll give you a tour."

Somewhat taken aback by the man's enthusiasm, Heero nevertheless rose from the table to follow him out of the tent and into the mid-morning sunlight.

The next hour was spent walking the length of the site while Wilson pointed out all of the reconstruction work that had been done to date, and much of the work currently in-progress. The extent of the damage both surprised and disturbed Heero; after seeing the destruction firsthand, he found it difficult to retain impartiality regarding the possible criminal nature of it.

No accident did damage so deliberate and thorough. Whoever had done it had been very familiar with the site, and knew exactly what they were doing.

Wilson provided him with a complete set of plans for the plant and offices, and promised to email him the manufacturing building plans later in the day. Finishing the tour back at the break tent, Heero was surprised to discover that the overall interview had taken longer than he had originally anticipated. It was already well past lunchtime at Preventer Headquarters. He flipped open his mobile phone and dialed Wufei's number.

"Chang here. What do you need, Yuy?"

Heero checked the encryption level registered for the connection on the display before responding. "Nothing in particular, Wufei. I am acknowledging your earlier message."

"Maxwell's rather excited about the case." Heero could hear the smirk in Wufei's voice. "He's called me three times already this morning, " now it was Heero's turn to smirk, "trying to get more information. I gave him everything I had the first time, but he's absolutely convinced you're holding back on him."

"That's because I am," he deadpanned.

The line was silent for an extended moment. By the time Wufei found words again, he was unable to keep the tone of restrained amusement out of his voice. "Well, whatever it is, he's your problem now. From this point on I am screening all of my calls, so if he feels the need to contact me, he's going to have to do it through you. Or Sally," he added as an afterthought.

"Understood."

There was a pause, and Heero could make out a muted exchange on the other end of the line, followed by a series of rapid keystrokes. "Yuy, Une wants a report tomorrow. Can you send it tonight?"

"Yes." He had already intended to send one; he would carbon copy Duo on it as well, and bring him up to speed at the same time.

"All right. That's everything for now. Contact me if you need anything else." The connection was cut off brusquely. Wufei had never been one for extended goodbyes, especially on company time.

_Though on the subject of time..._ He glanced at his watch and noted the time. 1100... too early for lunch, but too late to start a formal interview with anyone on the site.

He briefly mulled his options. There was not enough time to do an impromptu drive over to the site on the other end of town. Talking to Glenn or Maureen was out of the question, since both were completely preoccupied with important tasks.

Jason, on the other hand...

_Assuming I can find him, of course._ He had not caught a single glimpse of the operator during Wilson's tour around the site. Granted, he had no idea of what the other man's work schedule was, but since he was one of Maureen's lead process techs, Heero assumed he would be working similar hours.

Walking in the direction of the Process Engineering Lab, he was distracted by the clack of keys emitting from a darkened office two doors down. Curious, Heero ducked his head in for a quick peek.

And quickly pulled it right back out.

_Well, that explains where Jason has been all morning._ Fairly certain he had not been spotted, Heero leaned against the wall opposite the office, out of the line of sight from the open office door.

Why the hell was he so nervous?

As the Preventer agent on this case, he had every right to walk into the office and demand an immediate interview, especially when it concerned one of the key eyewitnesses. He could invoke his rank as a Preventer, and probably get Jason fired if he refused to cooperate.

But Heero had learned through time and example that that was the worst way to handle a delicate situation like this one. Witnesses clammed up, or became recalcitrant in anger over the control exerted on them.

And there was still one simple fact to face.

This was _Quatre_.

As many times as he tried to ingrain it in his mind to call him Jason, Heero was unable to separate the identity of Quatre Raberba Winner from the person masquerading as Jason Yoest. He had fought, bled, and nearly died beside the other man, and his mind refused to let him believe the gundam pilot he had come to know during the Eve wars was dead, even only in a metaphorical sense.

But that fact only made it harder for him to approach the former pilot. Heero had never before dealt with the sting of rejection, and he was finding it very hard to accept.

He would have to face Quatre again, probably before the end of the day. But right now he felt no desire to rush the confrontation.

Casting a final wistful look at the open office door, Heero turned away and headed back out of the building. He would catch an early lunch after all; it looked like his afternoon was going to be busier than he had originally anticipated.

  
  


*****

  
  


Sirens blaring past the café window gave Heero his first warning that it would be a short lunch.

He dropped the half-eaten egg sandwich unceremoniously onto the table and reached for his already-vibrating mobile phone. Maeda's name on the callerID could only mean one thing; he was out the door and jogging back in the direction of Isomer by the time he answered, two rings later.

"Yuy here. What's the situation, Bruce?"

Discordant sirens sounded in the background a moment before Maeda's voice broke through, out-of-breath and slightly panicked. "Yuy, get back to the site immediately. There's -" The phone reception dropped out momentarily. "-ther accident, in the-"

The call cut out. Heero cursed and broke into a run; another three blocks, and he could get answers from Maeda himself in person.

He cursed again as he saw paramedics wheeling workers on gurneys into ambulances lining the street in front of the site. Memories of the war washed through his mind, images superimposed over the scene in front of him. _Too many..._ He shivered, pulling the jacket closer to his body.

Stepping past the line of paramedics and emergency crews, Heero fought to retain a cool head as he took a long look at the chaos surrounding him. To his left, Maeda split his attention between the three people reporting to him in person and the two-way radio chattering away in his right hand. Sirens wailed in the air, and fresh emergency crews deposited onto the sidewalk rushed forward in the direction of the office buildings.

_The office buildings... shit! The Process Engineering Lab!_ Heero broke into a sprint, pushing carelessly through the growing crowd of onlookers, his stomach clenched in fear of the vision awaiting him when he got there.

The crowd surrounding the building swelled as he got closer, trading elbows with the mass of workers as he tried to push his way through. He fought his way through the sea of humanity, pushing, prodding - anything to edge his way through the throng and into the building in front of him.

"Preventer Yuy!"

Heero's head snapped sharply in the direction of the cry, eyes immediately honing in on the waving arms of the Theodore Wilson. Wilson was ahead of the crowd, clearing an avenue through the mass of people and rubble for the emergency teams. Heero edged sideways through the crowd, making his way over to the clearing where Wilson was directing rescue efforts.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, he waited until Wilson had sent the rescue team inside before approaching the man. "What's the status?"

Wide, oddly calm brown eyes met his own. "We've evacuated 90% of the building. There are still four people unaccounted for. I'm sending a team in now to see if we can dig them out before the roof collapses."

"Where?"

"The Process Engineering Laborat-"

Heero was stopped mid-movement by a firm hand on his shoulder. He spun in step to glare at the Wilson. "Look, I can't send you in there. We already have four people unaccounted for, and I can't add you to that list."

Wilson's eyes were hard, but Heero could detect a trace of sympathy in the wrinkles around them. Swallowing hard, he relented momentarily. "Who is missing?" he asked, pushing past the thick lump in his throat.

Wilson's expression became grim. "Glenn Okazaki, Scott Waylan, Maureen Robinson, and Jason Yoest."

"What the hell happened?"

Two heads spun in surprise and shock at the arrival of the Manufacturing Production Manager.

Wilson was the first to recover. Not taking his eyes off of the man across from him, he pulled the two-radio back up and activated the transmitter. "This Ted Wilson with a Priority Green message. Call off the search for Glenn Okazaki. Repeat, this is a Priority Green message. Call off the search for Glenn Okazaki. Over." Putting the radio aside, Wilson ran a scrutinizing gaze over Okazaki. "There has been an accident in the Process Engineering Lab. Three employees are still unaccounted for."

Glenn's eyes widened in shock momentarily. They hardened almost as quickly, and he grabbed Heero's hand, yanking him in the direction of the entrance. "Come on, Heero. You can explain this to me while I find my team."

Heero required no compelling to follow. As they ran into the dangerously unstable building, Heero vaguely heard Wilson yelling in the background. "I think the roof is going to collapse," he spoke in a voice far too calm to have come from himself.

"Then we have to work fast! Who's still in here?" Glenn was already heading in the direction of the Process Engineering Lab.

"Maureen, Scott, and Jason."

The arm tugging him forward went suddenly slack, prompting Heero to turn and look at the man next to him. Glenn's eyes were shut tight, and he seemed to be breathing deeply, fists clenching and unclenching in a rhythmic pattern. Heero watched in stunned amazement, knowing he should do something to break Glenn's trance but unable to will his body to act.

Glenn's eyes snapped open a minute later, rendering his concern moot. "This way," he ordered cryptically, up a flight of stairs that took them in the opposite direction of the lab. "Scott's up here. I'm sure of it."

Heero followed the man blindly, through dark corridors and past obstructed exits, to a closed office at the far end of the building. Heero tried the door, and with some difficulty managed to pry it open far enough to let himself in. Glenn rushed in behind him, heading directly for the crumpled body in the middle of the floor.

"Scott!" Glenn yanked the radio off of his belt and tossed it to Heero with one hand while the other checked the body on the floor for vital signs. Heero understood the implicit order and contacted an emergency team while Glenn performed CPR on the too-still body on the floor.

Precious minutes later when the paramedics arrived, Scott had a clear pulse and was breathing on his own, but had not yet regained consciousness. Heero caught Glenn's frantic nod toward the hallway and followed him out. Jason and Maureen were still somewhere in the building, and the roof would not last much longer.

Running down the hallway at unsafe speeds even outside of an emergency situation, they retraced their steps in record time and were soon outside of the Process Engineering Laboratory. Two doors, completely destroyed, hung loosely off of their hinges, framing the hellish scene inside.

What had once been a well-organized room with a large, open test space looked instead like a twister had touched down at ground zero in the center of the room. Papers scattered all over the place - some of them burning in piles of unidentified chemical; the remains of delicate scientific diagnostic tools had melted into twisted shrapnel, littering the floor like a land mine field with razor-sharp edges.

Heero matched the image against the room he had been in only five hours previous. Where there had once been a half-buried mobile suit instead lay an indiscernible mass of broken metal and ruined recovery equipment.

"Jason! Maureen!" Okazaki's yell broke Heero out of his trance. One of the fires was giving off fumes he was certain were carcinogenic. Grabbing a cloth lab coat from the floor, he tossed it over the fire, hoping to smother it and buy he and Glenn enough time to search for the other two missing employees.

"Maureen!" Distantly, Heero heard Glenn's voice somewhere in the back of his mind as he carefully picked his way around the mobile suit remains to the opposite end of the room.

"Jason!" Glenn's voice echoed weakly in this corner of the room. Heero climbed over a fallen ozone monitoring station - how big was this lab, anyhow? - something vaguely instinctual compelling him head for the far end of the room.

"Maureen!"

Thick with exhaustion, hoarse with smoke inhalation, and tight with restrained tears - but a voice that most certainly did not belong to Glenn.

Heero felt his heart rise a little in his throat.

"Maureen!" The voice was much closer now. Heero dodged a shower of dirt and rubble flung in his direction and rushed forward, heedless of the danger.

"Quatre!" A blond head snapped sideways to the source of the voice, eyes wide on a face lined with equal parts blood and tears. Heero willed his legs to move faster.

"Quatre!" Almost there. Was there enough time? "Quatre! We have to leave now! The roof is going to collapse!"

"No!" Wide, crazed eyes pleaded with him. "Maureen's still in there!"

Heero's mind raced to reason with Quatre's panic. He needed to get both of them out of there _now_, before he and Quatre were buried alive. He wrestled with the options, and decided to take the one that would get them out of there the fastest - even if it meant Quatre would hate him for it later.

Lunging forward, he threw his arms around the smaller operator, pinning Quatre's arms against his body to minimize the struggle. Bringing their faces close enough to touch noses, Heero stared deep into the blonde's eyes. It was now or never.

"Quatre." He used his gentlest voice, trying to soften the blow of the words he was about to speak. "The roof is going to collapse. If we stay here another five minutes, we will be buried in here along with Maureen, and we will be unable to do anything to rescue her. Does that makes sense to you?" Quatre nodded his head, terrified blue eyes glazing over in the early stages of shock. "All right. Can you walk? Or should I carry you out?"

The blue eyes narrowed in anger, which relieved Heero in some odd way. Quatre was not totally out of it yet. "Follow my lead." He laced the fingers of his right hand with those from Quatre's left, and quickly made his way across the floor, taking a more direct route to the front of the room now that he no longer feared stepping on a body.

He could feel it when Quatre began to shiver, the shaking transferring through their shared touch to his own body. He had to hurry and find Okazaki and get them all of this mess before Quatre succumbed completely to shock.

He squeezed his fingers in gentle reassurance, a quick physical reminder to the other man that he was not alone. Spying the exit ahead, he was relieved to see Okazaki standing in the ruined doorway waiting for him.

"Heero! Jason! It's not going to hold. Run!"

Panting heavily, they broke through the doors to the hallway, then to the exit, fresh air and bright sunlight hitting them across the face like a slap to consciousness. Quatre was the first to fall to the ground, followed quickly by Heero, pulled down by a sharp tug on his arm.

"Maureen..." Heero could barely make out the name through the sobs wracking Quatre's body. Willing to damn himself for the consequences of his actions later, he reached forward and put his arms around him, pulling the blond tight against his chest. It might have only been his imagination, but it felt like the shudders decreased in intensity.

"Excuse me, Mr. Yuy." Heero looked up from the tap on his shoulder at the paramedic regarding him expectantly.

He tightened his arms around Quatre. The operator had relaxed completely into his embrace, causing him to wonder if he had passed out. Smoothing a stray blond lock away from his face, Heero reluctantly disentangled himself from Quatre and handed him over to the med team.

He watched, from a distance, as Quatre was carried away on a stretcher into an ambulance. It was mostly a precaution, he told himself... there was nothing to worry about...

Then why was his heart in his throat?

A gentle hand on his shoulder made him turn, just in time to see the roof collapse above the Process Engineering Lab. A feeling not unlike being stabbed with hot needles raked through the pit of his stomach.

"She's alive."

He turned in shock to face the person standing next to him.

"I can't explain it; I just know. She's alive."

Glenn's mouth was set in a determined line, but his eyes were distant, as if seeing something many miles away. His fists slowly clenched and unclenched at his side.

Heero briefly wondered if Quatre was not the only person in shock right now.

"Glenn?"

"She's still alive, Heero. And we're going to find her."

  
  


tbc...   
  
  
****

Notes:

****

'It's easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission': The cardinal lesson of engineering, just as Maureen says. It was the first lesson I was taught by my boss when I was hired on as a process engineer, and to date has been the primary method used by engineering to get experiments past Manufacturing since we opened the fab.

****

SCUBA: Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. SCUBA equipment is also used for cleanup of chemicals and hazardous materials. All of the operators in the chemical plant where I interned were required to have SCUBA certification, and I got to watch them don the equipment on more than one occasion to clean up the interior of a reactor tank after a failed experiment.


End file.
